Sesame-Soy Green Beans and Peppers

I know, I KNOW. I was supposed to post recipes last night. Can I help it if I took a 4 hour nap? NO, I CANNOT.

This is the recipe for the green beans I made on Thanksgiving. There's a back story to this - my grandmother actually makes the world's greatest green beans. True story. However, these sure do come close. It's a great Asian fusion on a beloved dish and they were a smashing success at the dinner table on Turkey Day. The sesame oil and soy sauce measurements are approximate - use as much or as little as you want. I like to hose the beans down with the stuff, myself.

SESAME-SOY GREEN BEANS AND PEPPERS
From Rachael Ray and The Food Network

1 lb whole green beans
1 red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp sesame oil
Salt and pepper
Sesame seeds, to garnish (optional)

Trim the ends off the green beans. In a large skillet or wok, cook the green beans in the water for 6 minutes. Drain the green beans in a colander. Place empty skillet back on the stove and heat vegetable oil for 30 seconds. Add green beans and red pepper and stir fry two minutes. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper; toss to coat for additional minute. Garnish with sesame seeds if desired.

Is that easy or what? And SO good. They were a hit.

What I Learned At Thanksgiving

Sorry for the lack of a blog, ya'll, I forgot to tell you all that I was indeed taking last week off from the blog. I am also taking this week off - I'll be back Saturday. I apologize, but it's just going to be a crazy week and I know I won't have time or energy.

I went up to Virginia country (and I mean COUNTRY - there's nothing for miles. Anything suburban whatsoever. It's kind of awesome) to see my aunt, uncle, and cousins who I hadn't been able to see since before I left for the military.

What a trip. It was so much fun.
I now present to you, the first in a series of many hoilday anecdotes..... "What I Learned From Thanksgiving 2010"'

1. "If you don't stop, I'm going to turn you into a coo-coo clock" is the best insult ever.
2. Want to make your family fawn over you endlessly? It's simple! Just make a four-course dinner from scratch the day after Thanksgiving. It's that simple! (Note : I did this, because the crazy person in me wanted to. Don't regret it, but I think I'm still tired from cooking)
3. Even if you're just meeting a new family member for the first time, they are family, and bonds really can be forged instantly.
4. The intelligence of a 7-year-old really can make you almost fall to the floor.
5. Tears at the dinner table are not always bad - they remind you that even when you have nothing, you have what's right in front of you.
6. You need to be a little bit smarter than the can opener.
7. If you are willing to tell embarrassing stories about yourself, you are willing to have them used against you for the rest of the trip.
8. The louder the family, the better. If there's peace and quiet in your house in the middle of the day, something is wrong.
9. The Wii is harder than it looks.
10. No matter how many years have passed, or how many fights broke out, or what awful things happened, family is forever, whether you like it or not.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I'll post the recipes of the amazing green beans I made for Thanksgiving and the meal I made on Friday later today. And I will see your sweet self on Saturday.

The Spin Cycle: SHOUT AND HOLLA PRAAAAAISE!!!

This week's Spin Cycle (and the last, for now...) is about giving thanks. And I'm thankful for a lot, but lately I have been really thankful for one thing, and I figured now would be the time to gloat about it.

I love other people's children, but right now, I do not want my own. Too time-consuming, and I have so much going on in the next few years. Eventually, I do want a little one running through the house, all in good time. But I have a little baby of my own, and don't have to change his diaper or wake up every 3 hours because he's crying.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am thankful for Nom Nom. (I have been WAITING to gush on him for WEEKS now.)

He is a constant source of joy in my life. He always greets us at the door, meowing incessantly until we pet him hello. He's a cuddle bug - when I'm sleeping on the couch, he's right on top of me, stretched away in sleep mode. He's ever so playful - biting on his back legs and tail because their movement has caught his eye. He's a kisser - get to close to the little man and you'll get a lick on the nose. He loves to eat and eat and eat (hence the name), even when it's your food (he LOVES chicken) and sometimes, it really does seem like he wants to have a conversation with you. Meow meow meow, he'll say, like he's telling you all about what he did today. He's my little baby man, and I love him so much. So here's to my little bubs, my pumpkin baby, my kitty kitty.... Mama loves you, Baby Nommers.







Check out the final spins over at Sprite's Keeper. And come back soon, Jen.

Dream A Little Dream? Not So Much.

I thought I blogged this week.
I could have SWORN I blogged.
But apparently, I was dreaming. FAIL.

This week is going by at an unusual pace - the days are slipping by, yet this week seems to be going so so slow. Today we had our unit's Thanksgiving lunch, and I'm pretty sure that I'm still in a food coma. One word : YUM! I served up Jan's Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf (I'll link to the recipe soon) and it was gone pretty darn quick. Also, I had coordinated a Distinguished Visitor trip to our unit (we're kind of a big deal) and that went well. The stress of the week seems to be over! Huzzah!

Lately, I've been reading a very powerful, but very emotional book. It's called "The Lost Dogs" and it chronicles the dogs on Michael Vick's compound, from the time they were rescued to this year. I'm still in the part of the book where Vick is being investigated for dogfighting. It's very disturbing to read about what is happening to these dogs, and to be quite honest, whatever empathy or condolences I had for Michael Vick are gone. I love my animal, and would be heart broken if anything happened to him. He made a choice to fight and murder these poor pit bulls. I don't care how good he can throw, he's still a horrible person in my book. *off of soapbox*

I'm playing the waiting game with school right now - I'm applied and I sent in the transcripts I needed, now all I have to do is wait to register. It's trying my patience - I want to sign up for school now! I want to start classes now! I have never been good with patience, but I guess now is the time to work on that.

I thought I would have more to write about, but I guess not. My Spin will be in tomorrow, so look forward to that, I s'pose. Have a wonderful rest of your Wednesday.

It's Frakkin Friday, Ya'll!

So, I didn't post yesterday, but I blame whoever thought that a random day off in the middle of the week was a good idea. That threw me off to high heaven. To be honest, I almost didn't post today, but I am wide awake at 10pm because I took a four hour nap (Note to self: Real smart, KJ. REAL frakkin smart.) So a late-night Friday post has been brought to you by the folks at Insomnia International.

Yesterday, Husband and I got the Kinect for the XBox 360. If you don't know what that is, it's like the Wii, but it's cooler, because your body is the remote. No controllers, no wands. Now I am not much of a gamer (I'll leave that to the boy in the house) but this thing is freaking sweet. You pretty much wave and jump and swing around like a buffoon and, in the one Kinect game we have (it came with the box) you have a whole lot of fun doing it. When Star Wars comes out on it, oh, sisters and brothers, let me tell you, it is ON.

Today, thanks to the magic of military opportunities, I am one step closer to school. Basically I had some red tape to go through before I could sign up for classes / get said money for classes. Then, after peaking curiosity, I decided to CLEP out of 3 classes. Why, you ask? Try why the hell not. It's free and I only have to get half of the questions right to get credit. I'm trying to test of English Composition, Government, and Public Speaking. So wish me luck! You don't have to yet, though - I don't start my tests for another 2 weeks.

After much consideration, I do believe it's been a frakkin awesome Friday (note: the word "frak" comes from the sci-fi show "Battlestar Galactica." While I only watched bits of it, Husband watched it beginning to end last week on Netflix. So I did pick up some of the lingo.) My best friend back in Texas graduated today from massage school, Husband got recognized by one of the base commanders today, which made me beam with pride. And some other stuff happened, but I can't remember because Nom Nom is distracting me.

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to blog on weekends. Yes, they are MY sacred weekends, but I would be lying if I said my social schedule simply did not allow me to. (Bitch, please.) So I guess we'll just have to see how this weekend plays out. I am going to be joining more blogging communities, and doing some more networking. Everyone who writes like to see their stuff read, right?

Oh, before I go, just for the record: Unless you have a secret crush on Rachel McAdams (who happens to be on the list of "Girls Husband Is Allowed To Shamelessly Stare At"), skip out on "Morning Glory." I liked it, but then again, I wish I was Rachel McAdams, so there you go.

Have a magnificent weekend, everybody.

I'Z GONNA BE A SCKOLARRRRR

One thing you should know about me is that school was never really my cup of tea. I understood everything, and made good grades when I tried, but the problem was – I never really, well, tried. I would lose my motivation and end up doing poorly in my classes. It’s one of the (many) reasons why I joined the military – I needed to make something of my life, and I knew it would take forever if I took the traditional school route.

Fast forward to today, and things are different. The word “motivation” has taken on a whole new meaning in my life. I know now how to get things done and push myself to success. Being in the military has really altered my perspective, in a good way. And that is why I made the decision this week to go back to school. However, after months and months of thinking “What am I going to do once I separate from the military?” I decided to change my career. I love what I do, don’t get me wrong. It was my dream for most of my life. However, I need a change of pace. I don’t think this is what I was meant to do.

So… I’m going to culinary school. (Warning: Total Sexism Stereotype Alert) My favorite room in the house is the kitchen. The Food Network is one of my most favorite channels of all time. I love food in all types. I eat everything. I’ve worked in restaurants. The kitchen seems like my new destiny, and I’m ready for it.

I’ll be taking Introduction to Culinary Arts on Monday nights – only three hours a week, one night a week, which is manageable. The other course, Introduction to Computers, is an online class that’s required at the school. Somehow I think I’ll be able to manage that one. I realized it’s important to take at least one class that has to do with my area of study, and if I have to take a “required class,” then I might as well get the easy ones out of the way.

So KJ is going back to school…. Back to school…. To prove to Dad that I’m not a fool. I’ve got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight. I hope I don’t get in a fight. Ohhhhhhhhh back to school…..

The Spin Cycle: Nobody's Perfect.

First of all, I would like to shout AT Jen for always making the topic so darn DIFFICULT whenever I begin / return to Spin Cycle. This week’s topic is perfection. After much pondering (and much more chocolate eating), I think I found a way to…. Wait for it…. Put my spin on it. (Oh, look. I am just so stinking clever.)

In this day and age, the pursuit of perfection is simply relentless. No matter what our lives are blessed with, there is still a desire to obtain more – to look better, to weigh less, to make more money. We want to be as successful as the person on TV, as well liked as the co-worker sitting next to us, as beautiful as the supermodels in the magazines. And most of the time, we’ll do anything to make ourselves better. We’ll put the needs of society before our own, or maybe we’ll buy the big shiny 3-D TV to coerce people to come over for a party. Maybe we’ll get a new car, so everyone will want a ride. There is something inside most of us that endlessly desires “the perfect life.”

I don’t mean to be Debbie Downer here, but guess what.
Perfection simply does not exist.

We live in a world that is subjective in every aspect. Someone is going to dislike you. Someone is going to be better than you. Someone is going to have something you want. Something is going to be impossible for you to do. But that hasn’t stopped you from living your life, has it? When you look in the mirror, do you like what you see? If so, why? If not, why not? Do you have a steady job that puts food on the table for you and your family? You’re happy for the most part. Admit it. You have what it takes to get up every morning and go. Perfection, when you think about it, doesn’t really matter that much.

Now, that’s not to say you should ever feel like you have to settle. You don’t. You deserve the best. But perfection in the eyes of the rest of the world doesn’t matter, it is whether YOU believe you are perfect in the eyes of YOURSELF. If you don’t like the body you have, go to the gym a few times a week (but only if YOU want to change.) If you don’t like your job, see what else is out there. If you don’t like your kids, well then stick around, because I hear they get nicer when they become adults (right, Mom?). The only person who needs to think you’re perfect is you. Screw what everyone else thinks.

And for the record, next time you want to look/date/live like a Kardashian, remember this: Not only are they Photoshopped to high heaven, but all three of those bitches are totally fugly without makeup on. True story. I’ve seen it. Gave me nightmares for a week.

To make you feel just a little more perfect, I have this to tell you:
Smile! You look nice today!