Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

This easy recipe will help those, like me, who let bananas over ripen on the counter. Sure I see them every morning. I just never get the urge to eat them. Besides making banana bread, what could I do with these browning fellas? 

Oatmeal cookies. These are the easiest things to bake. 4 ingredients. I bet you'll have most on hand. 

You'll need: 

Chocolate chips 

Tablespoon of peanut butter

1cup of oats

2 ripe bananas. 

Mash all but the chips together. Then fold in the chocolates. Scoop out with a spoon and drop on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-20 mins and tada! done. 

Golden Tote for Feb 2014

It finally arrived! I placed my order Feb 6th and received the package today, the 20th. 

Now, being a first time purchaser, I went for the $49 tote. It would have 2-3 items. One you choose, the rest a surprise. It comes in this nifty golden tote canvas bag. 

Inside: 

The top I chose

The other goodies:

A light knit sweater

 

And a scarf. It's soft and wonderful with a butterfly pattern! 

The top I chose is wonderful! It's soft and cool. The second top, the sweater, is cozy. Though the way it's put together is interesting. It's like the front is a giant scarf that overlap each other to make the rest of the sweater. 

Me trying on sweater top. 

 

Overall, I'm thrilled with my bag! With winter weather on the way after this gorgeous spring like week I've had, the sweater and scarf will come in handy! 

More Target Clearance

Today I ventured into Target for mayonnaise that I saw on clearance last week. A whole end cap of Hellmanns olive oil mayo reduced to a buck something. Gone. All gone. Luckily I found other things to purchase! Ha! 

The brands were Burt's Bees and Yes to blueberries. Both marked down 50%. Both were bonus items, as in the had an extra goodie attached. 

Monogrammed burlap flag!

Today my burlap flag came in the mail! It was due tomorrow, but arrived early! It arrived via USPS, in a sleek box. Inside the box it contained: 

It's also wrapped in a thick plastic wrap. So no damage would occur if something were to leak through. 

Out of the box. 

Hanging on our door! 

The maker has other options available. She's on etsy and amazon! 

Save Your Wool Sweater!

Do any of you have the problem of balls of wool on your sweaters or coat? Like so:

That's my pea coat from Old Navy. 

Last year while visiting my parents, my mom had mentioned being disappointed about a cardigan she purchased from Banana Republic. I went in search for this cardigan in the guest bedroom closet. There it hung, looking normal to me, until I took it out and saw all the fuzzies. So I went into the bathroom and took an old razor out and started to shave the cardigan. It takes a bit of time, but it's worth it. Some spots I had to go in multiple directions to remove the fuzz from the material. 

Results: 

The shavings that come off: 

Instead of picking off the shavings for my coat I decided to vacuum them off. So the clumps looked more like this. 

Target clearance finds

I like a good bargain! I think it's something I picked up in college when what little money I had went to school, gas, and food. Today, I found a rare gem at Target. While cruising the many clearance items I spotted in the front aisle of the bedding stuff clearance flannel sheet sets. I doubted they'd have a king set but looked anyway. Low and behold they had one! For $17.48, regardless of size! 

The next goodie was an Aveeno dandruff control shampoo. Dandruff becomes an issue for me during the winter and when my hair gets to a decent length. 

Other goods my husband and I found were little kid clothes. They marked down some cool things. We may not have kids but our nephew and nieces can look cool. Curious George, TMNT, batman, etc at $5 or less. 

We also checked out the dollar section. They have now have travel sizes for high end products ie: yes to carrots, tide, dove, eos. Which is totally awesome because I noticed the manufacturer included coupons to purchase full size items on some of these brands. One item I had to try. It's by eos, shave cream and it can be used either dry or wet. We'll see how this works out! Happy clearance shopping! 

Orzo

This little pasta was the easiest to cook. What could I do with it? Maybe my options were too vast and my brain could not pin point the best option. So, I checked out our pantry and fridge for ingredients. I had a partial head of cauliflower, broccoli, and decided on a can of tuna. 

I put the orzo in water and got that boiling. While the temp was building up I broke apart the cauliflower. Then added that and the broccoli to the cooking orzo. 

Next, when the pot started boiling again, I turn OFF the heat and let it finish cooking and start cooling that way. When it's cooled to a manageable temperature, I dump out the rest of the water. Salt and butter in the pot. Drain the tuna, mix it in. Then shredded some cheddar cheese and threw that in too. 

This took about twenty minutes total. Easy peasy. Great for something quick right after work! 

Tada! As my soon-to-be two year old nephew would say! 

Cauliflower instead of fries?

Now I like potatoes as much as any fast food lover out there. But sometimes I like to feel good about myself and the choices I make about what I eat. 

Could this recipe I saw online be true? That roasted cauliflower be just as tasty as French fries! I had to find out. I've done the mashed, no puréed, version of cauliflower. It was okay, nothing amazing, and slightly lacking it the texture of mashed potato department. With a few modifications I bet it'll be perfect. 

Back to the roasted cauliflower. Go ahead and chop those little bitty albino trees to its itty bitty pieces. Bite size pieces is what to aim for. Toss them in olive or whatever oil you have on hand and salt. To be a little flavorful I tossed in garlic powder and Parmesan. Next, bake them till they are golden brown.  I did 375 for about an hour. 

Sorry for the not great photo. These were yummy! The crispier they get, the more they're like fries! 

Do you need to cook the lasagna noodles first?

The answer is no! All you need to do is add extra water! 

The noodles cooked perfectly! You do need to bake the lasagna longer but it's well worth... The less work. I used a jar of tomato sauce, then filled up the same jar with water. Shook it to get all the remaining sauce out. Foiled the glass lasagna pan with all the fixins and baked it at 375F for an hour. 

Tada, done! 

Indiana Snowpocalypse Day 4

On day 3, cabin fever has struck. Today I'm bent on getting into work. Though, I found out the pipes were frozen. Hubby and I had to team up and dig and mulch out his Jetta. Thank goodness I have a 4-wheel drive SUV. 

The delivery of the dog backpacks are delayed due to unsafe roads. Dogs are reluctant to go outside. Our igloo remains but our attempts at a fire were squished. :/ Charley, who is now 2 as of yesterday, decided to graffiti the igloo with yellow. 

We also had a flock of birds visit yesterday. Desperate for food. Luckily we had some grass poking through.

Some of the birds pictured below. 

After my 2nd cup of coffee I'll attempt to head into Plainfield. Looking toward the weekend weather, things will get interesting. Forecasted for rain. With all this snow we got dumped with and the upcoming rain, things will be a hot mess. 

What a way to spend the first days of being 25 and 2 years old! 

Sunday Funday 1.5.2014

Thanks Mother Nature for sending us so much snow on my 25th birthday! It's been snowing for 8+ hours. Crazy! 

Naturally, us adults, must stay indoor or keep up with the snow and shovel. Nay says the husband and soon to be 2 year old Chocolate lab. The two of them are currently constructing a snow fort or igloo. Neighborhood kids be jealous! The dog may just follow the man or eat the snow that's being rolled; I guess he's more of a manager of operations. 

After a couple of hours of work. I did bring out hot cocoa and a treat for Charlie. 

Enjoying today because tomorrow is gonna be freezing! High of -11. :P