I like to eat, eat, eat

Life is nuts for me. And as much as I haven't wanted to blog about cooking for fear this would become a recipe blog - it may just have to happen. With my crazy schedule, I normally end up having to cook once a week and put five days worth of meals into plastic containers in the fridge. It's the one thing that I do that is probably even remotely interesting to anyone, so it's what I'll share for now.

First thing to know is that I use my crockpot entirely too much for a 22 year old female, we're talking at least once a week people. And I love a good deal. My freezer is chock full of bargain priced pot roasts, chicken breasts, tilapia filets, you name it. I am a coupon fanatic and am a big fan of healthy eating and fresh produce. Oh yes - and don't forget the gluten free thing. So all of my recipes will be gluten free, feel free to adapt as you want.

This last week I was seriously craving Cajun and had a pot roast in the freezer so I decided to go with a Cajun Pot Roast with Maque Choux. Maque Choux means "smothered corn" and ended up being a really nice addition in the crock pot. All in all - I spent $8.00 on groceries last week. It pays to buy in bulk sometimes.


Cajun Pot Roast with Maque Choux

Ingredients:

2-2.5 lb pot roast
1 (11 oz) bag frozen whole kernel corn
3 Tablespoons (roughly, I don't really keep track) of Cajun seasoning
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
Tabsco to taste (optional)
Ground red pepper to taste


-Rub the roast with as much seasoning as you want. Mine was frozen and still did fine
- Put roast in bottom of crockpot and cover with frozen corn, pepper and onions
-Mix tomatoes, tabasco, red pepper, and any other spices you want to throw in. Pour on top of roast/corn/pepper/onion mixture
-Cover and cook on low. I totally expected this to take at least 8 hours, and it was ready in about 6.


Verdict:
I literally couldn't even get it out of the crockpot it was so tender. I made some basamati rice and topped it all with the maque choux. So good the first night, and reheated marveously two and even four days later. The meat was also neutral enough for me to dip in A1 that Friday for a new twist . If I were to do it again, I'd add more spice of some kind. Not sure what - but I also like my food pretty spicy and potent. Do with that what you want

The rest of the week included leftover spaghetti and an enchilada casserole my wonderful grandmother brought over. More to come..

K

The Taming of the Shrew Colored Chair

For a reason still unknown to me, I embarked on a mission at the beginning of the summer to re-upholster an arm chair.

oh. my. gosh.

Disclaimer: what I am about to tell you is most likely the most incorrect and dysfunctional way of making this happen. I am not crafty but I am ambitious, making a challenge, rather than skill, the fuel behind this endeavor. Eesh.

Before I could recover a chair, I had to find one worth sitting in. This was a process in and of itself, and I naturally went straight to Craigslist as my chair search engine. After a week of wading through late 70s fabric disasters and itty bitty chairs meant for small school children, I finally spotted the object of my affection.

Beautiful chair, but I'm 22. And fun. So I wanted a chair more fun than just green.

To make a long story very short - the chair was great, the people we picked it up from were weird. My boyfriend and his friend went with me to pick up the chair, and apparently the former owners liked what they saw, as they wanted to go on a double date with us the next week and kept texting me the next day. Ew, sick, gross, weird. Craigslist is for making money, not friends.

Moving right along..I just started taking out staples as soon as I got the chair home. I had no guide book since Google was pretty unhelpful and I didn't really know what to look for, so I just made up this process as I went. I took off the feet and the dust cover since they were attached first. And then I just started removing whatever piece was stapled on top and worked my way backwards until only the frame was left. I numbered pieces so I would know to work backwards and could keep everything straight, since a lot of the pieces looked very similar. I also took an annoying amount pictures the entire time to fulfill the first-born in me that just couldn't throw all caution to the wind. A couple sample pics..

And for each one of those, there's about a hundred more. Not even kidding, I literally took around 300 pictures "just in case".

All in all, I spent about a week taking out staples, keeping the pieces organized, and eventually got my chair down to the bare bones:

At this point, I grabbed my staple gun and just started reattaching things in the reverse order I took them off. I am sure there were far simpler ways to make this happen, but this was the only way I knew undoubtedly I was putting everything back where it belonged.
The front of the chair had funky staples that were attaching the front without being seen. I wasn't ambitious enough to recreate this design, so I used a few strategically placed nails followed by super cheap fabric tacks I found at JoAnn's.

Just a few days of fabric, tacks, and a staple gun, and I came up with this:

I know my limits and stopped with the pillows, hopefully I'll be getting them done in the near future by someone much more qualified than I. All in all, it is extremely gratifying to know I did this all by myself, and I'm extremely happy with how it turned out. Can't wait to get the pillows done and a cute colored throw to put it all together!

Ch-ch-changes

I suck at change. I really do. I hate changes with a fiery passion - especially when I know they are coming. I'd rather be blindsided and cope on the fly then know my world's about to turn upside down. I like order, structure and predictability, preferably nicely wrapped with a red bow on top.

So naturally the last year of my life has been chock full with all kinds of major changes. I changed jobs - twice. Relationships ended and new ones began. I moved three times. I was diagnosed with Celiac's. I got a dog. Friendship came and went. And.....I started my master's degree.

A Masters of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Specialty areas - trauma recovery, juvenile justice, and the mental health of female offenders and victims. Doesn't that sound impressive?

Of course impressive sounding degrees are also backed by impressive amounts of work. Mine is especially unconventional in the sense that it requires 60 hours of coursework. Average amount for a typical master's? Between 36-48.


This is just the beginning. Hold on to your hats kids...


I also go to school in Texas. I live in Kansas. My commute is just over four hours one way, and I go once a week for two days. This summer I went twice a week. That's sixteen hours in the car a week for ten weeks.

Whenever you're done gasping/laughing/shaking your head - hear this: quality education and quality relationships are hard to find. And while I can have both, I don't planning on sacrificing either.

Let me brag on my program for a few sentences. The University of North Texas Counseling Program was ranked #1 in Texas in 2010 and #12 in the nation. They are the oldest accredited counseling program in the country, and boast the most prestigous play therapy program in the nation. After the 9/11 tragedy, play therapists were flown from Denton up to New York City to work with the children who had lost parents in the attack. A counseling degree from UNT opens up doors all over the country. It's just that good.

My quality relationships? I've had the same core group of friends for over a decade. My home team. I've known all of them at least eleven years, some of them as long as seventeen years. We have all been there for each other through life events that just don't recreate themselves - births, deaths, breakups, weddings, engagements, graduations, jobs, and everything life has thrown at us over time. These are bonds you don't make with someone in a year or two, and friendships that will last a lifetime. My junior high friends are still the girls who will stand by me at my wedding someday, the guys who have demonstrated what Godly men look like and set the standard for the type of guy I look for. These are the relationships that just don't happen twice.

I've never doubted my ability to live anywhere else, I honestly just don't want to right now. And every time (believe me there are many) I start drowning in school-induced stress, or am feeling the intense emotional result of going to counseling twice a week all summer long, I am reminded of what a good decision this is for me to be around the people that can keep me grounded. My first teary phone calls about twenty page papers are always to someone on my home team roster, and without fail they answer with the kind of support they know I need.

So Graduate School Life Lesson #1: I can't expect people to be supportive or even understanding of my decision to commute. I am often reminded of the length of the drive or the price of gas by people that learn about my situation and feel the need to share such privileged knowledge. I have been called insane exactly seven times that I can remember (the brilliant irony being that my degree actually makes me more qualified to be the one determining who is or isn't insane. Just saying). But I still go to school. And I still have my friends.

We all lead very different lives. Each one mixes different priorities, responsibilities, goals, dreams, ambitions, and choices that come together make the unique existence that is a life. When my feelings have been hurt by the quick reaction of an aquaintance to the sacrifices I make to maintain a life in my hometown, I have had to learn to step back and realize that at the root of every response is a set of priorities that is not my own.

One person's approval of my commute doesn't determine how much I love what I study or what I view as important. Period. The knowledge that I am free to live my life in accordance with my priorities comes an abundance of confidence. The kind of confidence that gives an internal 'five hour energy' shot at the end of a long, tiring week. No fallible, human approval needed.

Would unanimous support with my scholastic choices be nice? Absolutely. Will I finish my degree without it?

Bring it on.

It's blogging season

Blogging takes time, which is not something I have much of these days. Juggling full-time graduate school (two states away) and three jobs leaves me little time to budget for anything involving the words "relaxing" "enjoyable" or "social". However, for those of you wonderful people in my life I won't get to see during the semester - here's my pathetic attempt at psuedo-social connection.




So here's to a new addition to the madness - glad to see you're along for the ride.