Back Again...and Canning!

So it has been an entire month since I have posted. I have two words: grant. season.

Grant season still isn't completely over, but I have had a slight reprieve these past two weekends.  The first weekend I went to Myrtle Beach with my mom and we spent the weekend doing only what we wanted, when we wanted and not even looking at a schedule. It was glorious! The weather was amazing (I even got a little sunburned) and the food was awesome. It was a much needed break.  This past weekend I worked some, but mostly enjoyed my three-day weekend.  Most importantly (besides Easter and the Lord rising again) I made my foray into the world of canning.

First off - canning is cool. I had what I consider to be a unique and amazing childhood.  Some might consider it pretty contradicting.  I grew up a city girl, but my mom's family is from coal-mining Virginia.  My mom has had a career my entire life, but also cooked and baked and was quite domesticated. I like to say that I have a tiny feminist and country girl that live inside me.  I'm not entirely one or the other, but a mixture of the two.  I grew up on sweet pickles and pickled beets, things that most people don't like but I consider to be foods of the gods.  My grandmothers didn't can, but my grant aunts did.  I have always wanted to can, mostly so I will always have an unending supply of pickled beets. So to me, canning is cool.

Aaron thinks canning is cool because then we will be prepared for the zombie apocalypse.  No comment.

I started trying to can probably about three - four years ago.  I know that sounds like a long time, but really, I've had a crazy past 3 years.  But I've always wanted to can, so I've been working on my collection.  First, I bought a canning starter kit, but it really didn't have everything I needed and I hadn't found a good cookbook. When we registered for wedding gifts, I specifically got a huge stock pot that I could use for canning and other recipes as well.  I hate the kitchen one trick ponies because, really, who space for that?  I've since bought another set of tools and 12 mason jars. Finally, I found my canning bible at World Market, Food in Jars.

My canning bible!

Food in Jars is a great book for beginner canners, such as myself.  It explains how to process the jars, the tools that you will need (and where to find most of them in your own kitchen), gives recipes for many different types of preserves and how to complete the processing.  She has a little bit of everything - jams, jellies, curds, fruit butters, conserves, nut butters (hello homemade Nutella!), and even staples like ketchup and stock.

I followed the book for processing the jars and for the first recipe - Rhubarb Vanilla Jam.  This was the author's first jam that she made, so I thought it would be a good first recipe for me to try.  I pulled out all of my tools and got to work (okay, they were already out from when Aaron and I pulled them out earlier).

All my tools, laid out on the table.  So far, I've used everything but the tongs and the jar wrench. 

I used my stock pot for the jar processing, my 1 qt sauce pan for the lids, and my dutch oven for the mixture. Thankfully I had the basket (helps circulate the heat), but the author suggest a circular cake rack for the jars to sit on, which I think I'm going to try.  I love being able to use things that I already own, or will use again, and that the author is efficient.  She has you process the jars while you are preparing the mixture, so you don't waste any time.  There are very few things that make a super type-A person happier than efficiency.

I chopped the rhubarb, squeezed the lemon juice, and split and scraped the vanilla bean.  Aaron was thoroughly disgusted by the rhubarb - it's a long, red stalk (think celery, but red). He said in the grocery store multiple times that he wasn't going to eat anything made with it.  I chopped it into 1-2 inch pieces then boiled the mixture as dictated by the recipe.

My set-up.  Note how the rhubarb looks - solid, chopped into defined pieces. 

I was fascinated by how quickly the rhubarb broke down to a mushy, jam texture.  The stalks were so firm that I had to use one of my larger knives and within 15 minutes of boiling, it was mush.

Within 5-10 minutes, the solid rhubarb broke down into this consistency. 

Overall, I thought this was pretty easy.  From start to finish, it took me about 2.5 hours.  What I didn't expect was how much the jam would pop! I have at least three burns on my arms from the jam popping during the last 4 minutes when you bring it to a rolling boil with the pectin. I think this means that I can buy another Calphalon pot that is a little deeper (sorry Aaron)!

My messy stove.

Canning also takes up a lot of space.  I had all four burners going on the stove at one point (had to brew earl grey tea as part of the recipe), the entire counter top covered when it came to put the jam in the jars, and also used my cutting board with the strainer to create more counter space across the sink (those things are amazing in small kitchens).

My canning set up

Clean up wasn't too bad as I used the 10 minutes at the end while the filled jars were processing in a boiling water bath to clean all but two of my dishes.

What I really like about this book is that the recipes are for 3 or 4 jars.  It's more than we will eat, but it's also not huge batches that we will never be able to get through. I remember getting pickled beets from my grandmother's friend, Miss Simmons, once and asking my mom "Didn't Miss Simmons die a few years ago?" and my mom telling me "Oh honey, canned goods just get better with age!"   I know that jam/canned items last forever (until opened), but I don't have much storage, so this is a good option for us.  

Final product!

The best part is that when we tried the jam the next day it a) had a jam consistency and b) tasted awesome! I'm one step closer to never running out of beets!
 

Shipping Out The Dress - Post Wedding 6 Month Check

We are currently in the middle of grant season at work, which means I'm working 10 and 12 hour days to make sure everything gets out the door on time.  Aaron's truck was down for a week or so and they are still catching up from being behind, so he's working night shifts and overtime as well.  We haven't seen each other for more than a collective 4 hours since Sunday night.

As of Friday this week, we will have been married for six months. Welcome to our life.  It's fairly boring compared to some, but also crazy. I like it.

I've been thinking about what to write for my blog post about our six month mark.  It seems silly to me  to commemorate it as I'm about as bad as a man when it comes to remembering dates, but I also think it's worth it to look at one big milestone that we are about to face (as soon as I have time to make it happen): shipping off the dress.

Why am I talking about my wedding dress? You might ask.  Or better yet, why am I shipping it off?

Because my dress is probably one of my favorite things about our wedding. It has SUCH a good story and I just can't let that story end with me.  So I'm sharing my portion of my story here and I hope that another girl gets to add to it later.

The Best Dress Story EVER

When Aaron and I got engaged, my mom and I went dress shopping.  I wanted it to just be my mom and I - I had seen way too many episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" and I was not going to have that drama.  So we went looking for dresses.

I tried on every style we could find. It was fun, but at the same time, not.  It was frustrating.  I'm not the "sample size" (6 to 8), so the fitted dresses didn't go over my butt or hips and I had to "imagine" what it would look like on me.  We found a dress that everyone really liked, but something was missing.

First dress

When I showed it to my best friend Katie and explained my feelings, she told me I needed bling. She was right.

Shortly after, I got an email from The Knot about a trunk show happening in Raleigh hosted by an organization called Brides Against Breast Cancer.  All dresses were either donated by brides or designers and were 30-80% off retail value and all proceeds went to breast cancer research or education.  I suggested to mom we check it out, just to see what they had.  My mom and Jess, one of my bridesmaids, came up to Raleigh from Fayetteville on a Saturday morning and, much to everyone's surprise, we arrived thirty minutes before they opened.  Turns out I had been a bit overexcited and had gotten the time wrong.  No biggie - they opened early for us!

It was the best experience.  Not only did we have the entire place to ourselves for a while, but there were so many dresses to try on in my size! Not just that, but I saw plus size girls trying on multiple dresses too! Girls were giving each other compliments and opinions and it was just FUN.  It was amazing to actually be able to try on different style dresses in my size.  I probably tried on 15 dresses that day.  But it was Jess that found "the one."

Before that day, I didn't believe in finding that one dress. That one dress that could make you feel like a million bucks and the best version of you.  That one dress that could make all your insecurities disappear. That one dress where you are stroking and saying "mine" to before you're even zipped and in front of the mirror.  That one dress that could make you and your mom cry while shouting "Don't you make me cry!!" at each other because you aren't criers.

But I did.

Mom, Me and Jess at the trunk show with "the one"

I'm not going to say how much we paid for the dress and the veil, but I will say that it was a third of the retail price. But the best part was knowing that all that money went to something useful, not just my dress.

So now I'm shipping my dress off to Florida to go back on the racks.  I had one amazing wedding day in it, one that makes me smile to think about.  I have gorgeous bridal and wedding day photos to remember it by. To me, there is no reason to keep it.  I loved going dress shopping with my mom and having that experience and, if I have a daughter one day, I hope to have that experience with her.  I don't presume to think she'll want to wear my dress and I don't want it to be an issue.  And besides, it is one mammoth dress and it takes up valuable closet space!  It is an amazing dress and I don't want it stuck in a corner, a closet or a box.  I want it on the next girl, for it to make her feel like a million bucks and for it to erase any insecurities she has and I want the proceeds to go to something important - fighting cancer.

So, when I get a minute to myself, I'm happily shipping off my dress to Florida so that its awesome story can continue with the next girl.  I just have to figure out how to get it all in one box!

Happy six months to us, happy more closet space (soon) and happy hump day!

Weekly Produce Box (Why I Heart Papa Spud's)

First, I am super excited about this post.  I have been planning this post for a few weeks now.  I didn't post last week because I didn't really have much to post about (it's grant season, I have no life) and I didn't want to post just to post.  So this post is going to be awesome!

For about a year, I've wanted to join a produce co-op/online farmer's market.  I like the thought of someone delivering fresh produce to my door on a weekly basis.  I usually buy produce on a weekly basis so it doesn't go bad and a co-op allows me to grocery shop less, while also shopping local.  

I am a huge supporter of buying local.  If you don't know, I'm a consultant for mostly rural local governments (cities and counties) throughout North Carolina.  North Carolina, specifically most of eastern North Carolina, gets its economy from farmers, so the more we buy local, the better off our state is! In addition, eating local produce can be better for overall health.  During grad school, I did an independent study on community health planning while working with Pitt County (where Greenville and ECU is located) on the Community Health Plan element of their Land Use Plan update.  Almost every study I found listed having local and online farmer's markets as one of the ways to make a community healthier.  They provide easy access to locally grown foods in areas that might be food deserts and help support the economy.  It's such a simple and easy thing to do to make my life, and possibly the lives of others, better.

Why now?
So why am I just now joining a produce co-op/online farmer's market? Because for just me, it was too much food! Before getting married, I struggled to cook on a regular basis.  I'd cook one, maybe two meals a week, but I mostly lived off frozen foods and Progresso soups.  I always thought it would work better once Aaron and I got married and I was right.  A small box, or one that is equal to food for one person, is perfect for us.  We get some weekly staples (like bananas and strawberries) and I get ingredients to make another meal or two.  We still supplement from the grocery store and BJs, but it has reduced my trips to the grocery store and how much we spend overall, which I wasn't expecting.

Why Papa Spud's?
I did a bunch of research. I looked at Backyard Produce first.  They were the first ones I found and I was intrigued, but the price of their "Just for One" box was $25/week.  That's a lot out of a single person's grocery budget.  My friend Crystal recommended Papa Spud's.  Their small box is $18.36 ($15 of credits and then $3.86 for tax/delivery).  Their credit systems are very different: the Just for One box is 40 credits and the small box is 15.  So I took one of my regular deliveries and broke it down.

The quantities are the same.  Backyard Produce didn't have green beans, so I couldn't account for their points.  Based on their points system (ie - onions are pretty cheap and are 6 points), I can easily assume that I was able to get another product with Papa Spud's and still have 0.5 credits to carryover to the next week than if I used Backyard Produce.  I also can put my box on hold as many times as I want with Papa Spud's.  That is a big factor for me. I can make it weekly or biweekly or put it on hold for a month, with no extra charge.

The one thing that Backyard Produce has going for it that Papa Spud's does it not is the service area.  Papa Spud's only delivers to the triangle area.  Backyard Produce delivers to many areas in North Carolina including Charlotte, Wilmington, and Fayetteville.  They still have a very good product, I just find Papa Spud's to be a better alternative for us.

The Economy of Produce Co-op
When I told my friend Graham that I was starting this, he said, "You are weird. We have one of the best farmer's markets in the south!" Yes, we do.  But it's not convenient to me. I have been to the state farmer's market once in the 5 years I have lived here (true story).  For me, one of the biggest sellers of the produce co-op/online farmer's market and Papa Spud's is that they deliver.  That is time that I can put back into my schedule, which currently, is priceless.

So here are my first two boxes:

Box 1: Two bunches of bananas, 2 lbs of sweet potatoes, 4 ciabatta rolls, cherry tomatoes and pimento cheese ravioli

Box 2: 1 lb of strawberries, 1 lb (2) onions, green beans and 7 oz of mozzarella cheese

The first box I got as part of a Living Social deal.  I had 4 extra credits than the usual 15 and they gave us an extra bunch of bananas and a carton of cherry tomatoes. The second box is what I would get with a normal set of credits.

For Papa Spud's, you count one credit as $1. I find this very easy to monetize.  I can look at something and easily decide if it is worth the assigned credits or not.  For example, they have strawberries for 6 credits.  I know for a fact I can get a pound of strawberries for $4 or less at the grocery store.  Some things just don't make sense to buy this way.  However, I did use 9 credits ($9) for pimento cheese ravioli made in Durham and it was worth every cent. I got two onions for $2. Also worth it.

I mentioned above that I'm actually spending less on groceries overall.  Grant it, this has just been two weeks for us and we've been pretty busy, but I have cooked most meals.  I think because I try to use the box to account for the majority of at least one meal, sometimes two, it allows me to be less tempted to buy in the grocery store.  I'll have to revisit this in a month or two and see if this still holds true or not.  Right now, though, I'm spending about 25% less on groceries, including the cost of the box.

Have I actually used it?
Yes! I was most worried about this - that I would get the box and the food would go bad.  Sometimes I buy produce and forget about it. It goes to waste and I truly, truly hate it.  I think waiting until it was more than just me was the best thing to do as I now cook for two (ahem - more like four to six) and not just one.  Also, getting the box has made it more fun.  I don't always use the items the week that we get them, we're actually about three to four days behind, but it works.  Here are some of the meals we have done.  The items from our boxes are underlined.

• Box 1
• Pimento Cheese Ravioli with Prego Tomato, Garlic, Basil Sauce and Ciabatta Bread
• Pizza with goat cheese and grape tomatoes
• Chicken with green beans and sweet potatoes
• Shrimp corn chowder with Ciabatta Bread
• Box 2
• Caprese Salad Pasta with Mozzarella and Grape Tomatoes and Onions

Should I and How Do I?

I'm not going to lie, I think a produce box is a big commitment.  It's a weekly delivery system and it's about $20 coming out of your budget a week.  So, here is what I would (and did) consider:

• Do you cook a lot? Are you going to use the box for ingredients for meals? If so, do you typically use fresh produce or do you get frozen/processed? 
• Do you eat fresh produce? The one thing I love about Papa Spud's (and BYP has this too) is that there is more to choose from than just produce, but those items are expensive.  We get one fun item a week. The first box was the ravioli, the second week was the mozzarella and I just ordered some bacon and cheese scones for our third box.  These items are all between 5-9 credits, ranging from 1/3 to 3/4 of my credits.  The boxes are mainly for fresh produce, so if you aren't using them for that, don't do it.  Also, in the winter, the amount of fruits you can choose from is very small (bring it on summer!!)
• So you answered yes to one of the first two questions, how much do you need?  For a family of two, we use the small box. With Papa Spud's, I can always add credits if I want.  I haven't yet, but with the pasta being so awesome, I probably will.  I haven't decided yet if we want to move up a box size or not.  Moving up a size would give us five more credits a week.  I really haven't decided if we need that on a weekly basis or not.  Unless you are straight paleo, cook all the time, or just love fresh veggies, I would go a box size down from what they recommend.  You can always move up to the next size.
• Who do I go with? Research them!! I can give you my opinions, but if you are going to pay for something on a weekly basis and commit to them, you need to do some research.  If you're in the Triangle, I would recommend Papa Spud's based on my research and my (albeit small) experience with them.  If you're in Fayetteville, Backyard Produce is a very good option.  But, research for yourself!

(Shameless plug) If you want to try out Papa Spud's or think this is something you want to do, then use my link to try it out!

Surviving Weekday Dinners

Dinner during the week is a struggle for me.  And, based on recent Facebook posts, I'm not alone.  My days are stressful and by the time the day is over and I go to the gym, I am done.  To be truthful, I am done before the gym, but that is a different story.

I'm a cook.  Even when I lived by myself and was in graduate school, I still cooked.  We're trying to be healthier and to spend less money eating out, so I've made it a priority to cook most of our meals during the week and then we eat out on the weekend.  I try to cook 2-3 meals a week and eat leftovers for lunch and two other nights.  

Here is how I survive dinner during the work week:

Meal Plan

I plan my meals out for the week over the weekend.  Not necessarily every meal, but I know what meals I plan on making, what ingredients I will need and how much time each meal will take.  Then I can look at my schedule and determine what night is best to make each meal. 

Sunday Preparation

I try to prep most of my meals on Sunday afternoons.  Last week I made a chicken casserole for one of our dinners.  I prepared it on Sunday then popped it in the oven when I got home from Zumba on Tuesday. Anytime I use the crock pot, I prepare it on Sunday.  Anything that you can pre-chop ahead of time makes your life easier.  Last week, I didn't actually cook anything during the week, just popped it in the oven or turned on the crock pot.

Chili in the crock pot and chicken casserole - ready for the week!

Have Back-ups

I always have ingredients for "back-up" meals.  Meals for weeks you don't have time to go to the grocery store.  Weeks that are just insane and you forget to lay anything out (if you freeze meat).  Back-up meals can be your savior.  Here are mine.

• Spaghetti - I always have spaghetti noodles and some sort of sauce. If I'm feeling creative, I throw whatever meat and veggies in that we have in the fridge or freezer.
• Chicken and veggies - I buy the individually wrapped chicken breasts.  They are easy to thaw (15 minutes in cold water) and are the right portion.  If you are cheap, you can also buy boneless chicken breasts, split them (if necessary), and then wrap them in freezer portion bags and freeze them.  I'm just too lazy to actually do it. In a pinch, I can make chicken breasts with some sort of vegetable (I keep either canned or frozen on hand). I've baked them and I've used the Foreman.  For baking, I cover in some butter and then put some oregano and basil on it, for the Foreman, I marinade for about 10-15 minutes in balsamic vinegar dressings.
• Homemade pizza - Pizza crusts or pizza dough, pizza sauce or marinara sauce, cheese and whatever you have in fridge works great. 

I don't really do salads, but those are good ideas too. 

Happy dinner making!

I Can Be Your Hero Baby....

Last Thursday, Raleigh's "Snow Day," I spent some time with friends that live in our complex.  We played the game "Loaded Questions" and one of the questions was "who do you want to model your life after and why."  None of us really had a specific name and, being the good Christian church kids we are, we all put down Jesus.  While we should all strive to be like Jesus, it was a total cop out answer.  It wasn't until Sunday, when I was at Target and saw her new book (and immediately bought it) that I figured it out:

Jen Lancaster is my professional/literary hero.

To say that my love for Jen is strong is probably a tad understated.  I have gone to her readings twice - once in Charlotte and once in Raleigh.

May 2010 - In Charlotte for My Fair Lazy reading

June 2013 - In Raleigh for the Tao of Martha reading.

I also own all but one of her books. You could say that I have a problem.

Jen started out as a blogger after she got laid off from her job.  Her first book, Bitter is the New Black, came about because of her blog, which she still keeps up and running.  She came out of corporate America, during the dot com era, as a pampered princess that you loved to hate and now is a New York Times Bestselling Author writing about her oh so suburban life.  I've watched her grow, literally watched real life character development.  She's dealt with her weight, her laziness and addiction to reality TV, and spent a year being more like Martha Stewart.  Now she's writing fiction, which I don't love nearly as much, but I still buy it because I love and support her.

She gives me hope.

Not that I will be her.  Not that someone will read this blog and say "Let's give Sarah a book deal!" Ha.  No. My life is nowhere near that entertaining.  But I have hope that I will keep writing, that I will keep doing this thing that I love and that people will keep reading what I write.

It's hard to blog once a week.  It's hard to think of something to write about on a weekly basis that someone else will want to read.  So far, though, I think I've done a pretty good job.  In my first three posts, I surpassed the amount of views of my old blog, which had about 19 posts.  I completely credit this to the use of Facebook, but I don't care how it happens.  About 50-60 people read something that I have written once a week.  They comment.  They even ask my mom if she's read my posts (and she hasn't, but I'll forgive her) and  then proceed to tell her how funny they think I am. Completely unsolicited.  It's awesome! So awesome that it causes happy dances on a weekly basis, awesome.

I also have hope that I will grow as a person and that I will look back at my blogs and get to see it in my writing.  I'm doing this for me. I enjoy blogging because it gives me reason to try new things. To write again. To not be afraid to fail.  And it's fun - because it's just for me. And for Aaron and whatever family we end up having.

So, thanks, Jen.  Thanks for getting fired, for being crazy and writing about it and making me fall in love with your memoirs.  Thanks for keeping it going for the past eight years and for being, in a weird, non-stalkerish way, my hero.

   

Entertaining with Sarah: Mexican Fiesta!

There is one instance in which I love a good party: when I'm throwing it and doing the cooking.

By itself, that statement sounds both rather obvious and self-absorbed, but I promise it's not.  There is the obvious reason that when you throw a party, only the people you like are there.  But the main reason that I love throwing a party, especially a good dinner party, is that it's not about me - it's about my food and the presentation of it!

Meet Ollie.

Ollie in her element.

My grandma Ollie was my mom's mom and is responsible for at least 75% of my personality quirks. She was a caterer and well-known for her "Ollie cakes."  I grew up with small wedding cakes for birthday cakes - one year, I had a three tier cake, each layer a different flavor.

Seven year old Sarah with her Troll birthday cake.  

I spent every afternoon after school with my Grandma Ollie and Poppa Robert.  I grew up snacking on roses that were left over from cake decorations, peanut butter balls, nutty fingers, mints and cake holes covered in icing straight from the piping bag.  I learned all about cooking and baking: simple tricks, presentation and trying new techniques and recipes.  Much like Ollie, my kitchen is my sanctuary, there is nothing more therapeutic than destroying a kitchen.  Ollie loved to experiment and so do I, which is probably why I'm a better cook than baker.  I learned a lot from her in the 12 years I had with her and still miss her greatly.  To this day, I still follow the "try it once" rule she lived by.  Ollie loved people and she showed her love best by cooking and baking.  I'm not always so good with social functions, but I do love to show my love for people by cooking.

Mexican Night - How it Came About

I decided a few weeks ago that it would be fun to have people over and to do a Mexican night.  We had Thanksgiving at our apartment, but hadn't done any other entertaining since then.  Since we have all of these awesome wedding gifts and I love to entertain/cook, I am on a one-woman mission to use every single cool wedding gift we have! We invited Aaron's sister Abbey and her boyfriend, Christian, to have dinner with us.  Then Aaron's mom asked if we wanted to do dinner with them that night to celebrate her birthday since the next Friday would be Valentine's Day.  We invited them over, as well, and the Mexican Fiesta night was on!

Why Mexican?

I love Mexican food. I especially love having taco night.  Tacos are easy to make and are a fun party food.  It's also a good meal to make as easy or as difficult as you would like.

The Menu

If I have learned anything in entertaining/moving/managing projects, it's that you always start with a game plan.  People make fun of me for this, but organization keeps me from losing my mind.  So I planned out my menu and then I planned what parts I was going to make when.

Mexican Night Menu  

Drinks

Sangria (cause I love it and Mexican night isn't complete without sangria)

Appetizers

Velveeta & Rotel

Fresh Salsa

Chips

Tacos

Breaded Lime Tilapia

Ground Beef with Homemade Taco Seasoning

Taco Fixings

Cheese

Lettuce

Sour Cream

Tomato

Guacamole (Aaron ended up eating it all, so it didn't happen)

Sides

Homemade Refried Beans

Mexican Rice

The Game Plan

So, I married an awesome man that helps me clean.  I could go on for days about how awesome it is, but I will just say that he makes cleaning so much easier because we cut the time in half.  First, we had to clean the apartment, which we really hadn't done a deep clean on since Christmas.  We did the living room/dining room areas on Monday, the kitchen on Tuesday, the bathrooms on Wednesday and the bedrooms on Thursday.  

We did Mexican Night on a Friday night.  This means I had to have everything ready by 7:00 Friday night.  That is next to impossible when you work full time.  So here was my plan of attack:

• Thursday Night
• Grated the cheese (I had a block of cheese we needed to use AND I got to use my handy cheese grater)
• Chopped the tomatoes
• Chopped the lettuce (I did iceberg lettuce, washed it then chopped it)
• Chopped the onion (I have to use a mini-chopper because I cry...a lot)
• Minced the garlic
• Rinsed the dry beans and covered them in water for their overnight soak

•  Friday Afternoon (Home at 4)
• Put the beans on to boil (had to boil for 2 hours)
• Made the sangria so it could sit for a few hours
• Mixed together taco seasoning since we had run out
• Pulled out the pans
• Cubed the velveeta, mixed in rotel and put it in the baby crockpot to let is simmer/start melting.
• Pulled out the ingredients, set up the dredging stations for the tilapia
• Marinated the tilapia in lime juice
• Friday Night (about 6)
• Made the rest of it!

Recipe Critiques

While I love to cook, there are some things that are better left to the manufacturers for economical purposes (read: Ain't nobody got time for dat).  I used Fresh Salsa from Harris Teeter, Spanish Style 90-second Uncle Ben's Rice, and Velveeta and Rotel for the queso.  I did make Homemade Refried Beans, my own Taco Seasoning, the tilapia and the Sangria. The recipes I used are linked to the menu above.  Here are my comments on them:

• Homemade Refried Beans: I would recommend using lard or really good fat.  I used oil and the beans dried out some.  I did use almost all of the cooking juice.  They had a good flavor, but the texture needed some work.
• Taco Seasoning: It has good flavor, but it still needs an extra...something? I hope to figure it out because I own all the ingredients from the recipe!

All the ingredients...minus the celery seed, it attacked me when I took down the chili powder.

Finished taco seasoning!

• Tilapia: I marinated the fish in lime juice for about 2 hours, then I used the recipe above for dredging purposes.  I used it simply because I have panko and it was easy to use.  This turned out really good! 
• Sangria: I have been using this recipe for about 2 years and it is always a win. 

Wedding Gifts Used

I think I'm going to start adding this category any time we have dinner parties/I blog a new recipe.  Aaron swears we won't use half of what we got and I'm on a mission to prove him wrong!

• Serving dishes (7)
• Cheese grater
• Lil dipper/baby crock pot
• 2 Calphalon pans

We are "Those People"

Contrary to popular belief, I generally don't like people.

Once upon a time, I thought I liked people, but now that I am 28 and past the "I need to please everyone!" stage of life, I can truly say that I am not a people person. Yes, I like to people watch - they intrigue me. And don't get me wrong, I will talk your ear off if I like you. But at the end of my work week, my ability and need to placate people and pretend to be nice when I don't actually like someone is just gone. 

This probably makes me sound terrible.  If so, lucky for you, I married Aaron.

Aaron loves everyone. Everyone loves Aaron.  Aaron makes friends with anything that will stand still long enough to listen to him.  What I lack in the ability to choke down people's BS, Aaron thrives on. He's the nice one, I'm the mean one and we like it that way.

Back in September, we got married. Before we got married, I said we wouldn't be "those people" and for my friends to tell me if we became "those people."  You know, the ones that get married and fall off the face of the earth? Guess what? 

We are totally those people! I get those people now!! They are MY people!

Weekend before last, we were super anti-social.  Friday night, I stayed home and scrap-booked.  Saturday, we spent the entire day inside, Aaron playing xBox while I had a Hart of Dixie marathon, and Sunday we managed to venture out to go to church and grocery shop.  Not once did we see friends.  And I was okay with that.

Aaron is not okay with that.

This is probably a good thing.  Probably why I married him. Otherwise, I would be a super independent social hermit for the rest of my life. Not an actual hermit.  I like to be on the go - I go shopping, I go to book stores and coffee shops, and I go on trips.  But I am A-okay with it just being me. Aaron calls this my only child syndrome, but also appreciates my only-child syndrome and my need for space.  This means he gets boy days and xBox time.   

So, in response to our weekend of social hermitness (yep, I totally just made up that word), we spent as much time as we could with people this past weekend.

Friday we had dinner with our friends Danny and Sarah.

Saturday morning I helped a friend move.

Saturday afternoon I went to a "Valentine Crafternoon' at another friend's house.

Sunday we had lunch with a friend and went to a Superbowl party.

Holy moly.

That is a LOT of people time. Probably maxed me out for a while, but surprisingly, I had fun.  I've decided I like this whole newly wed thing.  People don't care if you are social hermits.  In fact, they're so much happier to see you when you do come out to play.  Most importantly, they also don't get offended if you don't come out to play. It's awesome!

My name is Sarah, I married Aaron and we have happily become "those people."