Labor Day Weekend | 2015

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Three. Day. Weekend.   It’s like music to my ears.  Or was, anyway.   How does it always go by so fast?  Sigh…. and thus we begin our “Working for The Weekend” grind again.

Friday started with a Harley ride to work, as those opportunities are rare.  Being a girl, in a professional work environment, with 20 miles between home and work plus the need for gym attire, Harley attire, work attire… blah blah blah.  You get the picture.

Friday was a jeans day, with a fun Division meeting for the first two hours of my day (complete with t-shirt design competition), a few hours of work and an hour of Wellness Promotion (shameless plug for my fitness classes I start offering to staff on the 14th too)

😉

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FAW (Friday After Work) I was able to meet up with my girl Heidi for an impromptu early evening ride to Waterloo for some cocktails, live music and girl talk.   It was the perfect Friday night.

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Saturday

Clint was in C-town doing more Pirtlefest preps, so I decided to take on a few projects around the house.

Project A: Choose a new front door color.

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An early morning trip to Home Depot and I was well on my way.

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… with the Iowa game on and dogs monitoring my work, of course.

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Before | After

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I am in love!

imageChamp digs it too.

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I’d love to change the hardware and light fixture above the door as well, but maybe another day.

In between coats of primer and paint I also spent a great deal of time trimming up all of the rose bushes and random crap growing in front of our house (Project B).

…And by trimming, I actually mean cutting down.

Oops.

Have I mentioned I hate clutter?  Guess that transfers outside too.   I hate rose bushes.

Project C: String patio lights over our unfinished back patio.

:p

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Earlier this summer, Clint and company poured a sidewalk and half of our patio in the back.   It wasn’t intentionally done this way, but measurements were a little off… NBD.   Eventually it will extend to where the dog houses are and curve back around.  Our fire pit (which is sitting on top of the ground for now) will go in the middle.

I thought patio lights would look sweet over the top of this, so did a little mock-up, made a trip to Target for lights and started stringing.

So, how about a little math?

$48 of lights +  secure starting point +  connecting point for the four strands + a little too tight of a stretch on the last strand = a big glassy mess.

Just add it to my pile of trash for the weekend.

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Nightfall came quickly so the dogs and I had to call it a night.  Clearly they were exhausted after all that work.

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Sunday

An insanely humid morning equaled a less than enthusiastic start to my day.  5 miles sounded daunting in that heat, so I pulled out my witty tank to garner some laughs out on the trail.   I always wave/nod/acknowledge anyone I meet while out on the trail, so figured adding a laugh would help keep me going, if not them too.

Side Note: Please excuse me while I hop on my soap box for a sec.  I rarely wear this tank, along with a few other “wordy” tanks due to how low they sit on the chest.  I have to roll it into my sports bra a gagillion times to get it pulled up.   I think showing the girls while working out is just weird.  I know – this is probably all just me as I find boobs annoying (anyone feeling awkward yet) but I just find it a little odd to have cleavage showing when at the gym, running, teaching a group x class, etc.   Are we there to get a helluva workout in, or to get looked at?  Mmmmhmmm… that is all.    *Hopping off my personal opinion soapbox.

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After my long and disgustingly hot run, I hopped in an ice cold shower… hello happiness… and then Clint and I stupidly (influenced by my stupidity) went back out in the 100 degree heat for a ride to Lake Ohana.

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A few ice cold brews and we made our way back to Omaha.   Moonshine was producing, which is a very manual project, so you can’t leave it unattended for long without risk of ruining an entire batch.  Not cool.

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We ended the night with fire grilled grub and a few more beers.  Pretty great Sunday, if you ask me!

imageThat fire pit sure works great sitting awkwardly out of the ground.  🙂

MONDAY | Labor Day

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Clint was gracious enough to bring an entire grocery bag full of apples back with him from Clarinda, so I filled up my day with baking.

Three batches of Apple Pie Bars with Salted Caramel (all made from scratch) and a large batch of Apple Crisp smelled up my kitchen.   One batch went to our neighbor, Carol, who broke her leg a few weeks back.  Another batch went to our neighbor, Harold, who hands-down, might be the coolest cat you could meet.  He is an older gentleman, with a love of old cars, rolled white t-shirt sleeves and strategically combed and slicked back hair.  Harold and Clint have become quite the garage companions when talking old cars and tinkering on old trucks.

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Recipe coming soon!

Another hot-as-hell evening short run followed by dinner and blogging has me thinking bed time soon.   Back to the daily grind tomorrow!

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Hope you all had a wonderful three day weekend with family, friends and doing whatever the heck you wanted to do!

Cheers!

Monster Bars

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Recipe adapted from: Averie Cooks

Her photos and write-up is far more appealing than yours truly.  

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup melted salted butter
1 large egg
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup mini M&M’s
1 cup mini caramel bits
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup mini marshmallows

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DIRECTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with cooking spray; set aside.
  2. Mix together melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla and whisk  smooth.  Add egg and whisk again (adding egg after other ingredients allows it to cool so you don’t end up with a scrambled egg and butter)
  3. Add the peanut butter and stir until incorporated followed by the flour.
  4. Add all remaining candies and yummyness and fold to incorporate.
  5. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
  6. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until top is set. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, or with a few moist crumbs. Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes.

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I made two batches of these babies.  One went to a friends house (I used all pink M&M’s for Breast Cancer Awareness in one batch – GO, TONYA, GO!) and the other went with Clint to work.

Let’s just say the boys didn’t make it to lunch before devouring them all.

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Cheers!

Monday Dinner Idea

Monday Has Me Like…

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If you’re like me, you don’t even want to think about dinner tonight.

Let me help you out.

 

Spicy Ranch Turkey Burgers

  • 19 oz. package 93% lean ground turkey
  • 1 (1 oz.) packet ranch dressing mix
  • 1/3 cup chopped green onions
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 5-6 slices turkey bacon, cooked until crispy
  • buns and desired toppings

Mix together ground turkey, chopped onion, ranch dressing mix (dry), cheese and cooked bacon.   Form into patties, place into skillet with a little coconut oil or olive oil, brown each side.

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Broccoli Side Salad

  • 1 head broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces
  • 1/2 red onion, chopped
  • 1 small box raisins
  • 4 slices turkey bacon, crisped and crumbled
  • Small container greek yogurt (5oz)
  • 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp. vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 3/4 cup slivered almonds
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • sea salt (to taste)
  • pepper (to taste)

Directions

  • Combine broccoli, onion, raisins, turkey bacon, almonds and pine nuts in bowl.
  • In a small bowl whisk together yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper.
  • Pour over veggie mix and stir to coat.
  • Refrigerate for 30 minutes and serve.

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Enjoy!

Light Broccoli Salad

I am a sucker for yummy Broccoli Salad and since I had a garden fresh head of broccoli that Jeanne sent home with me, I was craving this light side dish like none other.   Sadly, the recipe that usually gets passed around is always loaded with mayo.

Uh, yuck.  

So, I went on a quest to find a lighter version and combined 2-3 recipes to make my own healthier, guilt free broccoli salad.

It’s basically awesome and you should make it.

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All the yummy ingredients, pre-dressing.

Ingredients

  • 1 head broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces
  • 1/2 red onion, chopped
  • 1 small box raisins
  • 4 slices turkey bacon, crisped and crumbled
  • Small container greek yogurt (5oz)
  • 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp. vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 3/4 cup slivered almonds
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • sea salt (to taste)
  • pepper (to taste)

Directions

  • Combine broccoli, onion, raisins, turkey bacon, almonds and pine nuts in bowl.
  • In a small bowl whisk together yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper.
  • Pour over veggie mix and stir to coat.
  • Refrigerate for 30 minutes and serve.
  • Enjoy!

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Turkey Burger Recipe coming soon!