Mya On The Run

Mya joined me at Girls on the Run today.  The coaches were supposed to each bring something that symbolized "gratitude" to them.  Coach Brittany and I had the genius idea to bring our dogs. 

Here's a little tip: if you ever want to excite a group of third grade girls beyond the power of your control, bring them a dog... or two.  There was so much chaos that we didn't get to talk a ton about our topic of gratitude, but Mya got the workout of her life.

MOTR with the GOTR

"Are you kidding me?  I have to keep going?  Mya sleep now."

Keep on trucking.

"How much longer?!?"

Awwwww!

"I better get lots of cookies for this!"

The girls were literally fighting over who got to run with Mya next.  One of the girls tells me every week how she wants some designer puppy... something mixed with a poodle... blech.  After hanging with Mya all day she said she wants to rescue an older dog.  Ulterior motive = accomplished. :)

The organization provides us with snacks to provide the girls at each practice.  But the other coach and I were talking about how counter-productive it is to talk to them about healthy living and then feed them all this processed junk full of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated fats.  So we scratched those snacks and now take turns bringing fresh fruit.  In honor of Mya's favorite snack, I brought bananas today.  I'm not kidding you... one of the girls had to ask how to open it.  She'd never just eaten a banana before.  You see the valuable skills we're teaching?  Luckily another girl was able to demonstrate by pretending she was a monkey.  These girls absolutely kill me.

At the end of practice as we stretched, we had each of the girls go around and say one thing they are grateful for in their lives.  My favorite girl on the run (what?  I can have faves) said that she is grateful for... McDonald's.  OMG.

I, of course, said I was grateful for the beautiful, wonderful Miss Mya.

The Impulsive Baker

I have issues.  Mostly with sugar, but issues all the same.  I have been craving a blondie lately.  A few weeks ago I was buying bread at Great Harvest Bread Company and they gave me a sample of their blondie.  It's all I can think about since!  I actually stopped by there today to "buy bread," fully intending to get the full-size chocolate-free brownie.  Apparently they only make those on Thursdays.  All they had were chocolate brownies.  And that is not what I was craving. 

Blondes have more fun.

I went home and spent the afternoon writing a paper for class.  For me, writing papers involves lots of procrastination.  So, I'd pretty much write a sentence... sweep the floor... reword the sentence... get a drink of water... reread the sentence... Oooh!  I should organize my recipes!  As I was going through the pile of recipes I've accumulated, I came across one that I'd completely forgotten about; BLONDIES!!!

I scanned the recipe quickly.  I had all the ingredients on hand and it takes 20 - 25 minutes.  Check the clock... it was 2:20 (seriously, who bakes in the afternoon?) and I had to leave for class by 3:00.  That gives me 10 minutes to get the mix ready, 20 minutes to bake, and another 10 minutes to cool so I can cut them and grab one for the road.  Looks like I have the time... but is there something I'm forgetting?  Oh yeah, that paper.  Screw the paper.  My sweet tooth wins.  Every time.

They took a bit longer to cook, so I had less time to let them cool.  They were pretty crumbly when I cut into them.  Crumbly and delicious.

Crumbly is good.

In case the mood strikes and you find yourself with a compulsion to bake, this is the recipe for you!  It was so quick to throw together and turned out amazing.  I found myself wishing I'd brought two for my little road trip.

Blondies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda (I don't have an 1/8 teaspoon, who does??)
• Pinch of salt (I actually do have a spoon labeled "pinch")
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butterscotch chips, walnuts, or chocolate chips (I used walnuts)

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350.  Lightly butter and flour an 8X8 pan.  Whisk together the melted butter and sugar.
• Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk.
• Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Mix it all together.  Add the mix-ins.
• Pour into pan and spread evenly.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes (at least 25!) or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool.  Cut into squares and serve.
• Makes 9 blondies (I cut 'em small).

I used my hand-held mixer to make the batter-making process go super quick.  My immediate thought as I poured the batter into the pan was, "I should have added pumpkin!"  Duh.  I bet you could make a healthy version by swapping the butter for pumpkin, the white flour for whole wheat, and cutting the sugar a bit.  Plus lots of cinnamon!

I found Simply Recipes on Miss Lauren's blog roll. It is full of really great stuff that is pretty simple to bring together.  It totally makes me want to get adventurous in the kitchen.  Oh, and Lauren's blog is pretty kick-butt too.  But we all knew it would be.

Now... back to that paper.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things.

Glee and Britney Spears?  Someone reached inside my head and pulled out my wildest fantasies.  I didn't really know what to expect, especially after a very much hyped GaGa episode last year that fell flat.  Those Glee-sters did not disappoint me this time!

Britney only made a few cameos, but it was still fun to see her with my fave high schoolers.  Plus, those kids totally held their own with the performances.  Here's what went down:

• I'm a Slave For You: performed by Brittany S. Pearce.  Dang.  Brittany is giving Britney a run for her money.  Hot.
• Me Against the Music: performed by Brittany and Santana.  It may just be me, but those gals are my favorite on the show.  Plus I LOVE this song. 
• Hit Me Baby One More Time: performed by Rachel.  No one could have pulled this off like Rachel.  Seriously fabulous. 
• Stronger: performed by Artie.  Okay, really?  My favorite ever Britney song and its performed by a dude?  So lame.
• Toxic: performed by The New Directions, including Mr. Shuester.  "Fresh off their last place finish at regionals; The New Directions!"  Fabulous, but Mr. Shue made it totally awkward.  At one point a girl in the crowd yelled, "Mr. Shue let me be your Britney!"  The whole thing ended in a "Britney Spears Sex Riot".  Hilarious.

I have to wonder if kids these days even know these songs and the videos.  I mean, where do you even see music videos anymore?  Certainly not on MTV.  When I was in high school, we used to wait in anticipation for the new Britney songs to premier with "Making the Video."  I can actually remember where I was when "Lucky" was released.  Do they even make music videos anymore?  Well, regardless... I'm so happy that Glee is reintroducing Britney to a group who may not have been aware of the extensive awesomeness that is Britney Spears.

Yea Glee!  Glee kids, hooray!

Seasonal Mash-up.

Oh hello!  Today is Monday, and Surprise!  I'm actually going to show you what I had for dinner.  The Mister was not around for dinner so I didn't feel like putting tons of effort into the meal.  I have lots of recipes in line for Meatless Mondays, but decided to go with one that Katy recommended because it sounded easy... and delicious. 

The recipe was called Penne with Broccoli and Pesto.  But, because I didn't have any penne around, and I did have some spaghetti and spaghetti squash leftover from this weekend, it turned out to be Spaghetti (squash) with Broccoli and Pesto.  This just made things easier for me because I didn't have to go through the trouble of boiling pasta.  We all know how grueling a task that can be!

The end results were totally wonderful.  I used my new go-to pesto recipe to use up some of the basil that's rocking out on the deck.  Basil is so summery and the spaghetti squash totally makes me think of fall.  So this was my ode to summer meets fall.  Topped with roasted tomato.

Whoa.  Broccoli close-up.



Me gusta.



The recipe:

Penne with Broc & Pesto

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup pesto (store-bought works too!)
3/4 lb. penne (or whatever you've got!)
1 large head broccoli, tough ends discarded (compost that shiz!), the rest cut into 2-inch spears.
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 Tbsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1.  Pour olive oil into a large bowl.  Add the pesto and whisk until uniformly blended.

2.  Put a large pot of water to boil over high heat.  When the water is boiling, add the penne, keeping the heat high.  Cook for close to the amount of time recommended on the package.  Taste the pasta, and when it looks like the penne have about a minute or so to go, add the broccoli directly to the boiling water (the broc will cook in seconds).  When the pasta and broccoli are just tender enough to bite into comfortably  but not yet mushy, ladle out and save about 1 cup of pasta water.  Then dump the remaining penne/broccoli into a colander to drain.  Transfer to the pesto mixture.

3.  Mix well, so all of the pasta and broccoli is evenly coated.  Toss in the Parmesan as you mix.  Stir in the salt and about 6 grinds of black pepper.  If the pasta looks dry, stir in some of the reserved pasta water.

4.  Top with roasted tomatoes and red wine.  Hooray!

A Crazy Weather Game Day

Saturday was an extremely crazy day: the weather & the game!  I didn't know what to expect from the University of Central Florida, but everyone seemed really optimistic.  And the idea of going into conference play with a 4 - 0 record was sounding pretty sweet!

The day started off like any other game day.  It was a bit chilly but we managed to have fun and enjoy our mimosas while Jack turned our tailgate into his own personal play place.  We went into the stadium a bit early to see the special pre-game activities honoring the Ft. Riley soldiers and the sun was shining.  As the game was getting ready to start I snapped a picture of the crazy clouds rolling in.  As they came closer, we saw lightning and the game was officially delayed.  On our way out we snapped more pictures of the CRAZY clouds.  We hung out in the car for the duration of the hour and a half delay. 

Once back in the stadium, the game wasn't looking so hot, but the temperatures were!  We were burning up, but the cats were falling behind.  During the second half we made a come back and eventually pulled ahead in what was maybe the most nerve-racking final minutes of a game I've ever experienced!  Regardless, we came out with a win!!! 

Almost as soon as we arrived back at our tailgate for some happy beers to celebrate our win, the weather snapped again and it was freezing!  I cannot tell you how crazy the weather was that day!!!  The poor folks from Florida definitely got a taste of what its like here in the land of Oz.

And, on with the pictures...

Sportin' his new hat.

Those are Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls.  Yummo!

Gangsta Baby.

Seriously, is this a tailgate or a daycare?  Hey Elmo!

Drew and I had minimal sleep the night before.  You can see it in our eyes!

Jack and Grandpa talk strategy.

Bryan and his super cool backpack!

Who thinks this lady spiked her Ensure??

The pride of Wildcat Land!

The team heading out for the first half.  Don't get comfortable fellas!

Ignore the tired eyes and notice how nice it is outside!

Oh hey.  That cloud looks kinda funny.

Yep.  It's getting closer.

Closer.

Holy smokes.

Heading out of the stadium.

You know you're from Kansas when you take pictures rather than taking cover.

My favorite mother/daughter tailgating team.

Thanks to all the pregame sugar, Captain Jack was wired.

Scary scariness.  But at least we had beer.

Back on the field.  And we snagged some fat-cat seats up close!

The club level serves cerveza.  We so have to get seats down here!

My favorite friends!!!

Kait amused us with her drunken tales.

Pretty girls have pretty friends.

2J.  I miss this girl like CRAZY!

Poor Willie didn't see any action until the second half.

We pulled it off at the end!!!

Hap-hap-happy!

The win was worth the wait!  This season has been full of nail-biters.  But we'll suffer through if it means another Wildcat Victory.  We take a break next week and then face the Huskers for the last time ever on a big Thursday night game.  Bring on the Cats!

Helpless

As mentioned previously today, I haven't had much time to cook lately.  And, I'm not eating meat right now.  You are probably thinking, "Oh her poor husband."  Well, you can cut that out right now.

I lack organizational skills.  I am not a type A personality.  I'm confused, and messy, and lack any kind of direction in my life.  But I am making an attempt to change all that: do everything, be everywhere, and to an extent be a good wife.  Since I haven't been doing much cooking, especially during the week, I have been trying to do some food prep every few days so that Mr. Gibson has some easy to throw together meals available.  Mainly, I cook up some form of animal to keep him happy. 

Last night I was planning a really simple dinner of taco salad; beef for him, black beans for me.  So to keep the meat-eating going on for more than one meal, I browned a pound of ground beef with some onion and garlic.  Then I halved it and added taco seasoning to half and Italian spices to the other half.  That way Mr. Gibson could have two taco-rific meals, and I could throw together some spaghetti for tonight's dinner in no time flat.  I was quite pleased with my powers of preparation.  And that taco salad was magnificent.

Then I come home today to find that Mr. Gibson has come home for lunch unexpectedly.  I walk in to find him sitting on the couch finishing off a taco salad that he prepped all by himself... with the majority of the spaghetti meat.  Umm... gross. 

I love this fool.

Mr. Gibson has been instructed to stay out of the kitchen for the remainder of his life and please never to feed himself again.  And for those of you free tonight, come on over for some good eatin.  Drew will be serving up spaghetti and taco meat.  De-lish!

Full Disclosure

Okay, I've been called out.  I'm a liar.  And I'm here to confess. 

The truth is... Meatless Mondays... don't actually always occur on Mondays.  Shocker.  I know.  I assumed most of you could gather that information on your own when the posts pop up at 7:30 in the morning on Monday, but apparently I misjudged your powers of deduction.  Some of you thought we were snarfing on enchiladas before the sun came up?

Meatless "Monday" sometimes doesn't happen on Monday at all.  In fact, this week's "Monday" went down on Friday.  The thing is, I don't have much time to cook lately.  When I do get time to actually prepare a recipe, I make it meatless, snap pictures, and post it on Monday.  Get it?  I'm sorry for deceiving you. 

In the spirit of full disclosure, all of my meals for the last two months have been completely meatless.  So in actuality, I could just post pictures of whatever I'm eating for supper that evening and call it Meatless Monday.  That might get a bit boring though... Kix and milk anyone? 

I have class in Warrensburg on Monday evenings so usually I'm not even around for dinner.  So from now on, let's agree that whatever you see posted, was actually prepared and consumed on a different day.  Deal?  Deal.

I hope that I can regain your trust and you'll all quit calling me a liar.  That stings.

Terrible Twos.

Due to some computer difficulties (AKA I gave the computer a virus and Drew had to erase everything on the lap top including all the photos that I'd uploaded and then we found out I lost the camera software so I couldn't reload the photos) I haven't been able to post pictures of Jack Jack's birthday party from last week.  Luckily, Bryan saved the day by introducing me to Picasa which is the most amazing thing in the world and not only saves and organizes my photos, but allows me to upload an entire album to my blog!!!  I was uploading individual photos before and it was taking FOREVER.  I owe you one B.

On to the fabulousness of Jack:

Well, someone has to mow the lawn if we're having company over!  I guess the birthday boy will have to do the work. 

 Jack is the king of "Cheese".

 This party had it all; including kiddo golf.

 How cute are those cupcakes???  Brooke is a frosting genius.

 Whoa whoa whoa... who lit Elmo on fire???

 Blow out your candle!

 Nom nom nom.



Mmm... Cake!



Time for gifts!



Here's some help from the twinnies.

Best gift of the day!  Jack got his very own tailgate chair!



I can't believe our little guy is already a toddler.  We can't call him a baby any more!