muddin'

Nic's sister is in town visiting for a few days before heading up to Minnesota for the holidays.

We decided to show her a good time on Sunday and took her mudding.

Because we are red necks like that.



Or we might have just made a really stupid decision and happened to get almost get stuck on a minimum maintenance road...

Thanks to our (Kajsa and I) brute strength - we were able to make it through the mud pit to safety.

Too bad Nic had just spent the previous day doing this:



It goes without saying that a few glasses of this was needed after all of that:

fancy nancy

Look who came to visit us in Iowa!

My best friend, Nancy. Whoop!



Nancy and I have known each other since 1st grade. We both were proud members of Girl Scout Troop 159.

We became really close during track season spring of our freshman year. We were the distance queens. Well, I'll give that title to Nancy, she was (and still is) quite the superstar athlete.

As any best friends, we've had our ups and downs, endured many fights, and have picked each other up when the other needed a hand.

Nancy followed suit and found herself a NicK to marry after I snatched up the original Nic. She will marry "Nick 2.0" this August. And in keeping with a not-at-all-planned tradition, will marry her Nick the same weekend in August that I married my Nic, and the same weekend in August that Leah married her Nic Tony. (Leah - it would have been way more cool if you could have found a Nic or Nick to marry! :)

We have many anniversary trips to look forward to in the future.



Come back soon, Nancy!

visitor in the night

Look who showed up while we were sleeping last night!



My brother, Ike, texted me yesterday asking if we wanted a visitor for the night. Sure thing brother!



He was on his way to Minnesota from Texas to drop off his car at our mom's house to store while he is in Iraq. He leaves on Wednesday.






Muwahaha, blinking while taking photos must be a family thing.

Sooo happy that he stopped, otherwise I would have been the worst sister in the world (okay, in North America), by not making the trek up to Minnesota this weekend to see him before he leaves.



Even though his visit was short, we had fun. Our activities included a trip to the vet, drinking numerous mugs of coffee at Dodici's Shop, indulging in scones and biscotti while sipping on coffee, purchasing graduation gifts for our mom, the Master (she just got her Masters on Thursday!), and then grabbing lunch at Unc & Nephs before he hit the road.



I love my brother Ikey.



He loves me too - especially after I told him that while he is in Iraq he has to train for the 2012 Stockholm Marathon. Hehahah, yep - that's right! Our next sibling marathon will be this one. Maddie and Ike are sooooooo excited.

Our last sibling marathon was the 2009 Twin Cities marathon*. Ike was home from Iraq for like a week, so we snagged him a last minute entry. With very little training, he kicked my ass - what a punk.

Never again brother, never again.

*Read that post. In the first 12 words I proclaim that one marathon in life is enough. Here I sit two years later ready to embark on my third marathon ever and first of three this summer. Funny.

all roads lead through washington + really awesome cookies

Today is a sad day in the PS household. We ran out of my newest kitchen creation. A few tears were shed. But then I quickly got over it upon learning that we would have not one, not two, but five last minute visitors!!

My beautiful mom was on her way home from Indianapolis (she's been hanging out with a bunch of fire fighters all week) and stopped for a quick visit + late lunch.



We took advantage of the semi-beautiful weather and walked into town to have brunch/lunch at Cafe Dodici.

I was under the impression that she was planning on spending the night, but after being gone all week, she was anxious to get home.



Of course, we took the obligatory group photo on the couch before she left.  Jack, the cat who must know what is going on every second of the day, decided to get in on this photo.





He even knew where to look for the photo! :)

Up next - a very surprising visit from two of our best friends from high school, Dan and Aaron. They were on their way home from a very quick trip to St. Louis with two of their friends. So happy they decided to take the quick 15 minute detour and stop by!



Their visit was even quicker than Mom's - but all that counts is that they stopped!  Can't wait until they have some more time to spend visiting.

After all of our guests were gone, we took the pup for a beautiful walk (still kind of chilly....still waiting for Spring!!), and then came home and made amazing lentil-walnut burgers from Oh She Glows. OMG - Mom, you totally should have stayed for dinner!!!

And now for the really awesome cookies.  The other day I saw this recipe and I instantly started craving oatmeal raisin cookies.  Of course, after I started mixing the first few ingredients together, I ventured far off the beaten path and did my own thing. So without further adieu...

Not So Sweet Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookies
Ok, so they are not only for breakfast, rather these not too sweet cookies can be eaten any time during the day. A smear of peanut butter (or any nut butter) is the perfect addition to these fairly guilt free cookies.


I swear there is a cookie under all of that deliciousness...see it??

I actually put the recipe on dailyplate so I could calculate the nutrition stats.  So check out the recipe here...and then tell me what you think about the stats of these cookies.



Oh - my favorite way to eat these was topped with banana soft serve (made with frozen banana, chia seeds, a little bit of toasted coconut pecan butter, and some almond milk) and cooked apples. I had this for breakfast one morning, dessert later that night and breakfast the following morning.  Holy Yum.

And before you mock at me for eating banana soft-serve, tell me - have you ever tried it yet?  I know nothing will replace ice cream, but this sure can come darn close!  I mean, look at it...



...I could eat it every day. (And I will once Spring gets here!)



Especially when it sits on top of an oatmeal raisin breakfast cookie and is topped with warmed cinnamon apples.

In other news....

I spent this morning cleaning out my dresser and closet.  Nic did a little happy dance when he saw the emptiness of our closet. I am terrible when it comes to putting clothes away and keeping things organized.  I am bound and determined to keep it clean for at least a week!

I ran today.  I listened to all of you smart people and set out to do six.  But six quickly turned to three when I felt a little, and I really do mean little, twinge of pain behind my right knee. See...I am taking it slow and easing back into running. I did end my run with 800m on the track in my socks, just to see if I could notice a difference without my shoes on. Plus, it would be kind of cool to transition into minimalist running.  I think I will through a few barefoot 800s into the mix each week.

I really need to come up with a new plan for Fargo...once I do, I will share and probably ask you guys if I am being realistic.

Time to get ready for a busy week - which begins with picking up my new car!!!

How was your weekend??

weekend recap

Guest free is the way to be!  :)

Just kidding - however, after having guests for pretty much 10 days in a row, it is nice to have the house to ourselves!

This weekend was full to the brim with activities!

Friday:: After Ike and Kim left, I spent a while cleaning the house and getting it ready for our third and final set of visitors. I also managed to sneak in some work, even though I took the day off. When Nic got home, I debated whether or not I should head to the Y to get in a workout or head up to Iowa City to purchase a new workout item.  Clearly I chose the later and we made our way up to World of Bikes to test drive and ultimately purchase a new bike!

After test driving a fitness bike and a road bike, I ended up choosing the Trek 7.2. Although I like how the road bike felt a little better than the fitness model, the 7.2 is a more practical bike that I can use to get in good workouts, as well use for a commuting bike around town (meetings, grocery store, etc). Oh and...it was on sale. Win!

We got home just in time to get dinner going before Nic's parents, Barb and Kurt walked in the door.

Saturday:: Nic worked. Barb, Kurt and I enjoyed some leftovers for breakfast (I am sure they were very disappointed!) and then Kurt started working on some projects for us! I love it when the father-in-law comes to town!

We headed up to town around Noon to meet up with Nic and do some shopping around the square. Barb has been to most of the stores, so I suggested we head up to Kalona as they have only driven through.

In Kalona, after grabbing lunch at the Tuscan Moon and cookies at the Kalona Bakery, Barb and I both did some major shopping!  We found a happy balance between antique/crafty stores (for Barb) and bulk food stores for me.  Yes, we were both like little kids in the candy store!

If you are ever in the area, Stringtown Grocery is a must stop! I've only been there once before this weekend, but am kicking myself that we don't go more often. I walked out of the store with:

• Golden flax seed
• Chia seeds
• Adzuki beans
• Spelt berried
• Green lentils

We also found that they have quite a variety of organic, Amish raised meat for sale. Even though I rarely eat it, we now know where we can find locally raised meat to purchase.

We also made quick trips to the Kalona General Store (I walked out with split peas, apricots and coconut flakes), Twin County Dairy (we picked up two types of cheese for that night's dinner), and after a short drive down some country roads, ended up at JK Creative Wood & Gifts. Here, Kurt was like a kid in a HUGE candy store. He loves working with wood and we all ooohed and awwwed at their amazing work.

Barb treated Nic and I to a set of coasters.



Love them.

Upon returning home, I whipped up a very gourmet dinner for everyone. Tomato soup and grilled cheese. Seriously, it was gourmet - no canned soup or sliced cheese here! I was inspired by the new show on NBC, America's Next Great Restaurant. Have you seen it?? I've been craving a grilled cheese since we watched the first two episodes with Ike and Kim.  I was initially going to make up some saucy balls....but decided to keep it simple with the soup and grilled cheese.  Watch the show, you will like it!

The tomato soup I made was pretty much the same as this one, but I made a few changes and actually liked this version better. I think I will make it again sometime this week and will post the recipe then. There were not too many changes, but I want to get it up here so I remember the changes I made!

After dinner we all sat down to watch the movie, The American, starring George Clooney. Word to the wise, do not watch this movie with your parents. AWKWARD! There was a point where things were getting just a little too awkward and I had to tell Barb, "isn't this the part where you are supposed to tell the kids to close their eyes and cover their ears??!"We then shifted our focus to the pets while we anxiously waited for that loooooong scene to come to an end.

Our overall thoughts on the movie - meh.  Don't waste your time.

Sunday:: I was up at 6:30 to enjoy some peace and a cup of coffee before everyone else stirred. I made another quiche for breakfast - this time it was a spinach, asparagus, mushroom, red pepper and cheese quiche.  I used the same recipe for the crust as I did last Sunday, and would recommend that you keep the olive oil in the crust.



As it is the first day of Spring, it was only appropriate that we had our first thunderstorm of the season this morning! It was great (I love storms), but thankfully cleared up after breakfast so I could take the dog for a long walk. While I was out, Nic and Kurt replaced a few hoses on Nic car. It was no coincidence that I left just as they were starting this project...they both have a tendency to think any project will be relatively quick, but ultimately (okay, most of the time, not always) it ends up taking a lot longer than they expect and many four letter words escape their lips. Hey - not complaining...they like doing it, so kudos to them. For most repairs, I'd just rather take my car to the shop.

Speaking of my car - while working on Nic's car, they needed to run into town to get something and took my car. They made it to the end of the block, heard some weird squealing, turned around and the tire popped! When we removed it, we found the cause of the problem, the spring for the strut broke and punctured the tire!!  Seriously, soooo thankful it happened so close to home and going at low speeds - if they would not have taken the car today, I would have taken it tomorrow night to a Relay meeting and who knows what would have happened.  I could have been going 75 down the highway when the spring decided to break.  Anyway, looks like we will be shopping around for a new car this week! Even if this is a relatively cheap repair, my car has 250,000 miles on it and we've been planning on replacing it before I get really busy with work.

Barb and Kurt left after a quick bit for lunch around 3:00.



Nic and I took my new wheels out for a spin and covered about 9 miles. I love my new bike!



Lots of lounging around and watching TV is on the schedule for the rest of the night!

vegan lasagna

Happy St. Patty's Day (what's left of it!)! We totally celebrated in the right fashion by eating Tex-Mex for dinner. :)  Hey - what else are you supposed to prepare when you have a Texan staying with you?  Thankfully tonight's dinner was another hit and actually quite easy to prepare. But that's not what I am blogging about...maybe I'll make it again and share it with you then.



These past few days have been an absolute blast! So glad I was able to take a few days off work on such short notice to spend time with Iker and Kim. And with some beautiful weather to boot! I tortured them on Wednesday by taking them on a 5 mile tour of town with Maia and we ended up at central park enjoying a picnic lunch.

In true "Ike's visiting" fashion, we also enjoyed a few good brews and of course a couple of movies - The Fighter and The A Team - both were really good!

And of course, I made them eat many of my kitchen experiments. Some of them weren't true experiments, but new to them dishes (like oatmeal with carrots in it...!) and one was a total experiment and something new to all of us - vegan lasagna!

Lately (as you can probably tell) I've been trying to create more vegan dishes, not that my intent is to become a vegan (at this point), but since we are not eating too much meat anymore and dairy doesn't always "agree" with me, most of my experiments just naturally go in that direction.

So the other day I was dreaming of lasagna and trying to come up with a suitable substitute for the creamy ricotta layer. I've seen recipes that call for using tofu, but I am not so much a fan. So I decided to take a chance and use beans as a replacement. Total win!

Vegan Lasagna
A veggie packed lasagna that screams comfort food. Served up with a slice of garlic toast and you've got heaven on a plate! Even the meat eaters in your life will leave the table utterly satisfied.



In the mix::

• 1/2 onion - sliced
• 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
• 3 carrots - grated (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 8 oz mushrooms - rinsed and sliced
• 1 small zucchini - sliced as thinly as you can
• 1 eggplant - sliced into thin rounds, salted and rinsed
• 1 box whole wheat lasagna noodles - cooked according to package (9 noodles)
• 3 cups cooked navy beans
• 1/4 cup basil leaves
• 3 cloves garlic - peeled
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups of your favorite marinara sauce (recipe below for a new PS household staple!)

Pre-heat your oven to 400*

Roast eggplant rounds until lightly browned - about 20 minutes, flipping once. Set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onion until lightly browned. Remove from pan and set aside. Do the same with the broccoli, carrots and mushrooms. I did all of these separately and without oil. This was a quick process as each veggie was only in the pan for 1-3 minutes.

In a food processor, add beans, basil, and garlic. Process until smooth and creamy, adding water a few teaspoons at a time if needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Prepare your lasagna. In your baking dish, spread about 1/2 cup of your sauce, add three lasagna noodles, a generous portion of your bean mixture, layer with half of your veggies and spoon on some more sauce. Repeat layer once more (noodles, beans, veggies, sauce) ending with the final three noodles topped with sauce.

Bake in a 350* oven until bubbly, about 45 minutes.



I was a little leery of this at first, especially since I used a pan that was way too small! And you know...making a vegan lasagna for your brother and his girlfriend that you are meeting for the first time - the pressure was on! Thankfully everything worked and the dish got eight thumbs up.

The bean mixture was spot on and really did have the texture/flavor of ricotta cheese. I didn't end up using all of the puree, but think I will next time and make thicker layers.

I contemplated skipping the lasagna noodles and subbing in zucchini, but thought that would be a little overboard and i didn't want to scare away Ike's girlfriend too fast!

The sauce I used was another new creation. I normally make my own pasta sauce using canned tomatoes, and don't get me wrong - I love it, but wanted to try something new.

Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic Tomato Sauce
A great combination of flavors - this could be used as spaghetti sauce or thinned out a bit with some veggie stock to make a delicious tomato soup!

In the mix::

• 2 large yellow onions - quartered
• 1 jalapeno - cut in half (seeds left in)
• 4 red bell peppers - quartered
• 10 small roma tomatoes - halved and squeezed of their juices (reserve the juices for later)
• 3 whole garlic heads
• 3 T olive oil
• 4 T tomato paste
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 t each oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves - chopped

In a large bowl, coat the onions, jalapeno, peppers and tomatoes with the olive oil. Spread onto two sheet pans and roast at 400* until browned, stirring occasionally - about 40 minutes.

Place un-peeled heads of garlic onto a corner of one of the sheet pans and let roast with the veggies.

Remove the veggies to a pot, add in the reserved tomato juices and bring to a simmer. Set the garlic aside to cool.

Into the pot, add tomato paste, vinegar, oregano, parsley and red pepper flakes (if you like your sauce a little spicy - the jalapeno was not enough for me!).

When garlic is cool enough to handle, slice in half and squeeze out the pulp. Add to pot.

Using an immersion blender, puree the sauce until as smooth or chunky as you like. Add in fresh basil and remove from heat.

guns & curry

Whoa - so having two sets of guests within two days of each other makes life busy! My brother and his girlfriend pulled in late Tuesday night after driving all day (from Texas) and we've been catching up since! Seriously great to have them in town, but it leaves little time for anything else!

So let's go back a few days. Saturday, when Greg and Christina were still here, we headed out to the Y bright and early for a game of raquetball (Nic, Greg, Christina) and some lovely time cross-training (Kier). After that and a quick lunch of homemade veggie pizza (YUM!) we headed out to the shooting range so the boys could play with their toys.

Nic and Greg were excited to teach Christina how to shoot (it was her first time) and I sat back, took photos and kept the crazy pup away from all the action.


Getting the basics



Learning how to aim (and how to keep your eyes open while you pull the trigger - yeah, there is totally a reason why I remained behind the camera lens instead of a gun barrell!)



Ready...aim....fire!





They also tried to teach Christina how to throw a clay pigeon. It took a few tries....





And a few different techniques...



But she finally got it!





Hey - those things are tricky!  I've tried a few times and have given up all hope.

The weather was deceivingly beautiful and although the boys could have stayed out there a lot longer, it was really cold and we were ready to head back to the house to make supper.









Confession: While Nic and Greg were shooting, and while Christina was trying to master the pigeon thrower, I was paging through my new "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" cookbook for an inspiration for dinner.

Yep - total dork.

But, no one could complain, because they enjoyed one of the best curries that has ever been made in the PS household!

I was inspired by the squash curry recipe since I randomly had a butternut squash - but then of course I added a lot of this and a lot of that and ultimately ended up with my own thing.

Butternut Squash Curry



In the mix::

• 1 small butternut squash - peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/2 onion - diced
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 jalepeno - diced (seeds and ribs left in or removed depending on how spicy you like things)
• 2 carrots - peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 parsnips - peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 6 oz mushrooms - rinsed and sliced
• 1 inch fresh ginger - peeled and diced
• 2 T canola oil
• 1 can plus 3/4 cup coconut milk (I used both regular and lite)
• 1 cup veggie stock
• 3 T curry powder
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• 1/8 t nutmeg
• 1/3 cup raisins

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the oil and then add the onion, garlic and jalepeno. Saute until onion begins to soften. Add the curry powder and ginger and saute 1 minute. Add the squash, carrots, parsnips, mushrooms, ginger, coconut milk, stock, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cover and simmer until veggies are tender, stirring occasionally. Test for seasoning. Add raisins and simmer 2 more minutes.

Serve over brown rice, pour yourself a glass of white wine, and enjoy!

This was amazing curry. Eight thumbs WAY up and Nic and I were secretly praying that Greg and Christina would leave before lunch so we could hoard all of the left overs!

We followed up the meal with vegan brownies (that we totally topped with full fat dairy ice cream!) but that recipe needs to be tweaked before I share it.  It was a winner - the entire pan was polished off in 2 days.

Lots more great recipes coming your way - especially the vegan lasagna that we had for dinner tonight.  Another eight thumbs WAY up!