Feeling Fishy

D and I love seafood. Truthfully, I love seafood more than I love chicken, steak, etc etc. We buy our meats/fish from Sam’s Club and package it into smaller portions. The prices at Sam’s can’t be beat and it makes dinner time much easier when you’ve already got the choices on handJ

 

Salmon is a go-to for us. It’s in our price range; it’s delicious, and super easy to cook. I’ve been looking for new ways to cook salmon lately and have come up a bit empty handed. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and whip something up on my own. Last night, I threw together a marinade for some salmon while D was at the gym. It was super easy and we both really enjoyed it!

 

 

Cast of Characters

 

Less sodium soy sauce (do yourself a favor and try the lower sodium…you can’t tell the difference, I promise), brown sugar, 2 garlic cloves, olive oil, pepper, lemon juice, and a drizzle of honey.

 

 

 

Start adding the ingredients to a bowl. 1/3 cup of soy sauce, a good drizzle of olive oil, the juice from half a lemon, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, and 2 minced garlic cloves. I also am lucky enough to have access to local orange blossom honey and added a good drizzle of that too!

 

 

Your marinade will look weird. It’s okay! Whisk it together until the brown sugar is mostly blended in.

 

 

 

Add the marinade to a storage bag with the salmon in it. Tightly seal the bag and place in the fridge. The longer the better!

 

 

 

 

When you’re ready to cook the salmon, take out of the bag and place in a baking dish. Spoon some of the marinade over the salmon. Place in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, depending on the size of your salmon.

 

 

 

I served the salmon with sweet potatoes, roasted yellow zucchini, and a big salad. Delish!

 

What’s your favorite way to dish up salmon??

L

Sparkles!

As we get more comfortable in our home, I've been picking up little DIY projects here and there that are quick and easy. I need quick and easy for the next 38 days-until Summer vacaation when I can take on the more intensive projects :)

Am I the only person in America who shoves her makeup brushes into her makeup bag? I shove and shove, then when I actually need one, it's fallen to the bottom of the bag and I can't find it. This normally happens at 6AM and I search and search for hours lazily use something else.

This project was literally the easiest thing I've ever done! All you need is a handful of supplies and a little down time :)

The cast of characters...

I have about 100 mason jars on hand from our engagement party. Why I convinced myself we all needed to drink out of mason jars, I'll never know! Nonetheless, I now have to find creative ways to use them. I used: a styrofoam takeout container from Carrabbas (leftover from the rehearsal dinner), black ribbon I had on hand, a mason jar (any size would work!), Martha Stewart Glitter Glue, and Martha Stewart Gold Glitter. Both the Martha Stewart products were bought at Michael's with a 40% coupon, so in total, I spent less than $7 on this project. Sometimes it's worth the extra trip to get another 40% off, so I used two coupons on two separate occassions to get my products for the price I wanted :)

Next step is to cover the jar with the glue. The snazzy part of the Martha Stewart Glitter Glue is that it has a brush attached to the top, so it's super easy to spread! You want to cover the mason jar pretty evenly with the glue.

 

 

I am amazed at how creepy my hand looks here...

 

I digress...Once your mason jar is covered with glue, you want to get ready to SPARKLE! Now, I will be honest with you because we're friends, right? I originally poured the glitter in the container and tried to roll the mason jar. So. Dumb. Don't be like me.

 

Hold the mason jar over the styrofroam container and pour the glitter over the jar, shaking often to get off any excess glitter. Much more intelligent than the Pour and Roll method.

 

Once you're sufficiently glittered, admire your hard work!

 

Give it as much time as possible to dry, but once it is, you're last step is to ribbon that little sucker up! Use whatever color ribbon tickles your fancy. I'm personally a huge fan of the black-on-gold look.

 

 

Mine's all cozy next to my sink in Mr. D's and my bathroom :) Where are you putting YOUR sparkly mason jar?

 

 

See ya soon :)

L

Hey there, how ya doin, where ya been?

You are my favorite person in the world if you can tell me the song reference the title of this blog is channeling :)

It's been quite some time, hasn't it? Goodness time flies when you're having fun...or graduating from Graduate school, buying a house, and planning a wedding. Of course there's been a ton of fun thrown in there, as well, but you get the point :)

I thought I'd get back in the blogging saddle today for a few reasons.

Reason Number One, we sadly lost one of my favorite people in the whole world yesterday. My Uncle Donny was one of the most thoughtful, genuine, kind, and GOOD men I have ever met. His laugh was contagious and he treated every person he came in contact with like they were family. We were so ridiculously blessed to call him family and I will miss him so. I'm already hankering for a hug, a laugh, or the phone to ring and hear my dad laughing a little too loud with his best friend. Sigh. My heart is heavy.

 

With Uncle Donny's passing weighing heavy on my heart, I've been doing anything and everything to keep myself busy. Clean the house? Check! Grocery shopping at Sam's? Check! Laundry? Yep, done that, too. I think you get the point. So this evening, I thought-I might as well add blogging to the list of things keeping me occupied!

 

Reason Number Two: Well, it's just plain been too long. Holy cow I need to be more diligent with this nonsense.

 

Reason Number Three: It's been busy in the McDowell/Crandall household as of late; getting cozy in our new home. I'll update on that soon enough. But for today, in the hopes of easing myself into blogging again and keeping myself busy (noticing a pattern? Yep, I thought so...), I've meal-planned for the week. I adore being in the kitchen and love cooking new and exciting things. Lucky for me, The Fiance happens to be a super easy eater. He will try anything and 9 times out of 10, he'll also like it! So without further ado, here is what we'll be eating this week. Hopefully I'll get on here a few times this week with pictures and recipes to go along with.

 

Monday: Seafood Boil (smoked sausage, shrimp, red potatoes, and corn on the cob) with a big ol' salad

Tuesday: French Dip Sammys (Gotta love the crockpot!) with homemade sweet potato fries

Wednesday: Cody's. Duh.

Thursday: Valentine's Day! For the first time in our almost six years together, Derek made reservations at a surprise restaurant for Valentine's Day! Look at him. So thoughtful.

Friday: Apple Chicken Sausage with yellow rice and snap peas.

 

See ya'll soon :)

 

Lyndsey

Ohhh, Blogging...I remember you...

Well, I have seriously neglected blogging. We have had a lot go on in a short amount of time. The stress of it all kiiiiinda got the best of me. Okay, who are we kidding-it totally got the best of me. Let me recap for you...

In my last post, I said within the next month, I...am going to be moving into our house, planning my wedding, starting my last semester of grad school, and starting my third year teaching. All of that WAS true! However, the whole moving into our house thing...not so much. Long story short, our appraisal came back $50,000 short of our offer (No, I did not stutter nor am I exaggerating...unfortunately!). We've been looking for the last month and have found another home to attempt to buy. We are under contract and hope to close before too long! Say a prayer for us and send all your positive mojo our way! :) I'll keep everyone updated!

This weekend, we celebrated my sweet cousin-to-be, Cali, at her bridal shower! It was adorbs with a Nautical theme. I was able to make some cute decor for some aspects with my amazing Cricut :) The Bride To Be pendant banner was fairly easy to make. The cardboard-colored pendants are made in a 5x7 size, cream-colored in 4x6, and then I used the Alphalicious cartridge super Stacked at 3.5". I'm so glad I could help, even in such a small way, help make this day special for Cali! (Check out her ridiculously cute blog here!)

While I'm up to my eyeballs in school, work, wedding, and new house stuff, I've tried to make time for those crazy kids that actually choose to be my friends :) Derek and I, along with Briana (her blog is fabulous, as well!) and Phil has established a lazy Saturday. Our day consists of homework for the girls, outside projects for the guys, then cooking dinner together. I look forward to it every week!

The wedding is officially less than six months away. Holy Guacamole. I cannot even believe it. Before I know it, it'll be March and we'll be HERE!

For now, I think I've given you enough of an earfull. I'll be back soon with some new recipes and updates on life! :)

L

A Week in the Life of...

Hey all!

I'm pretty stinkin' excited to see 70+ people have taken a peak at my little labor of love. That sounds ridiculous. Who gets excited over 70 people? THIS GIRL, THAT'S WHO! :)

The last week was spent getting ready for the whole going-back-to-work-end-of-summer shenanigans. Ugh. I love my job and am beyond grateful for the opportunity I have teach my kiddos. However, that last week of summer and the looming start to the school year is enough to make anyone a little sad. I SO enjoy sleeping until 9AM and spending my time doing whatever I please. Unfortunately, that time has officially come to an end and I headed back to work today. I spent my day in meetings and planning what I would do with my classroom this year. I've decided the word to describe my vision is: FIERCE. I spent two hours this evening cutting out about 24834 things I had laminated today, as well. That was a blast! Thanks to my Momma for helping out a ton with that! I've taken some before pictures of my classroom and I'll take some after photos on Friday. We'll see how much I get accomplished :)

I also met with my wedding coordinator last Thursday at the Vinoy. We had a delicious lunch at Marchand's within the resort. Here's a link if you want to check out amazing menu! Marchand's Menu
We talked all things wedding and were able to make some big decisions for the big day. I learned what a charger was. Who knew they'd call a huge plate under your dining dishes a charger?! No. Clue.

I made White chicken Chili for dinner tonight. Super easy. Super quick. My kind of Monday night dinner. This chili has a little kick to it, but is easily controlled with a little extra broth. The recipe is a mixture of The Pioneer Woman's and whatever came to my mind! Enjoy the recipe! Let me know if you make it! :)

White Chicken Chili

1 medium onion, diced
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbpsn butter
2 tbpsn oil
2 cans Great Northern Beans
1 can corn
3 Boneless Chicken Breasts, cooked, shredded ( I season with chili powder, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper)
2 cups Chicken Stock
2 cups water
1 package McCormack Chicken Chili seasoning

1. Add 3 tablespoons of oil to a pot with 3 tablespoons of butter. Let the butter melt.
2. Add onion and garlic to melty butter and oiil and let them start to cook.
3. When onion is soft, add Great Northern Beans, corn, shredded chicken.
4. After about 2-3 minutes, add Chicken stock and water to mixture. Add McCormack seasoning to your bubbly deliciousness.
5. Make sure everything is mixed together and let sit covered on medium/medium-low heat for awhile (I've let it sit anywhere from an hour to just 10 minutes).
6. Serve it on up! Sharp cheddar and sour cream are GREAT additions to the amazingness you will find in your bowl! :)


See ya soon!
Lyndsey

Not So Suzy Homemaker

Within the next three weeks, I:
1. Go back to work
2. Meet my 30-something kiddos.
3. Begin my last semester of grad school.
4. Close on Derek's and my house.
5. Continue planning our wedding.

Since I'll be navigating through this new phase in my life (Suzy Homemaker, here I come!), I thought I'd blog about the things I'm doing: new recipes I try, things I make or discover for our home, creative projects for work, etc. Not only will I have something to look back on, and I'm sure laugh at, later, I'll also be able to share it all with you! We're scattered all over the place, so I'll be able to keep everyone updated on all things house-school-wedding-related! :)

So, hang on tight, I'm sure it'll be an interesting, if not wild, ride!

Lyndsey