Why not Minot? Freezin's the Reason.

"As long as we don't go to Minot, I wont care where we go" This is something I said quite frequently when Kenny first joined the Air Force. Last Friday the Air Force served my words up piping hot on a platter. Minot it is. That's North Dakota for those of you who don't know. Like 20 minutes from Canada, North Dakota.
Now I've never seen the merit of wallowing in self pity. For an extended amount of time that is. I promised myself and Kenny should we get Minot, I would wallow for five minutes and be done with it. Which is exactly what I did. Followed by slightly hysterical laughter at the irony of it all. After assuring Kenny I was not having a mental breakdown, I quickly began to see how the pros outweighed the cons of this PCS (Permanent Change of Station). But that's really beside the point. I can usually find the glass half full in any situation. The real point is that as an Air Force spouse I serve my country every day by supporting my husband. Never more so than when I do my best to make these transitions go as smoothly as possible.
However, this doesn't mean I wont be holding Kenny to an agreement we made when he was assigned B-52's. Zoe gets clothes. Until now the only article of clothing Kenny approved of was a Broncos jersey. But now its time to step it up a notch. We wouldn't want poor little Z to suffer from frostbite! Most of the items I have my eye on are very practical but I cant help sticking it to Kenny just a bit with this adorable little number

And yes, those are doggie long johns.

Quinoa. Pronounced Keen-Wah

Considered sacred by the Incans, Quinoa is making a come back. It is a grain, but also a complete protein so its great for all you vegetarians and a good substitute for rice and other carbs for you Atkins people. It is also gluten free.  So if you ask me it's a pretty under appreciated little grain.

Try it in the following recipe and see how you like it. I bet after that you'll think twice before grabbing the rice for a recipe.

Quinoa Summer Salad
1c. uncooked Quinoa
1/2 medium red onion chopped
1 can corn drained
1 can black beans drained
1 can diced tomatoes with green chili's drain about half way
1 green bell pepper chopped
Large handful of cilantro chopped
2 jalepeno's seeded and chopped
1 lime
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tb. red wine vinegar

- Combine 1c Quinoa and 1 1/4 c water in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. You will know it's cooked when the germ (the ring thing) has separated from the grain.
- In a large bowl combine the next six items. Add one tsp of the following spices and stir to combine. Place in the fridge while the Quinoa cooks.
- When Quinoa is done, fluff with a fork and let sit off the heat for 5 minutes. Then pour into the bowl of the corn mixture. Sprinkle red wine vinegar over the mix and stir. Add the remaining tsp's of seasonings to taste. Place back in fridge until ready to serve. Serve over baby spinach. If you want, you can mix together this vinegrette to serve with the salad.
-1/4 c olive oil
-2 limes
-1tbsp red wine vinegar
-1 tsp cumin
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/4 tsp black pepper
-1Tbsp chopped cilantro
Stir together to combine and serve.

Garlic Fried Rice

One of my favorite restaurants is Benihana. As a 6 year old when given the choice of eating anywhere for my birthday, even Chuckie Cheese, it was only Benihana's for me. I would spend the entire evening attempting to eat the fried rice with my chopsticks. Unfortunately there is not a Benihana in Shreveport so I decided to try and make the fried rice myself. Here's my first effort. I think it turned out pretty good but I'll update you as a get closer to the real thing!


Ingredients
1 1/2 c. uncooked rice
2 green onions sliced thin
1 carrot chopped fine
1/4 c. white onion chopped fine
2 T soy sauce
4 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 T vegetable oil
sesame seeds

- Cook rice according to package instructions. Chill for 20 minutes.
- Heat oil on medium high heat and add garlic, stir frequently for one minute.
- Add rice and stir quickly mixing in the oil and garlic.
- Pour in soy sauce, carrots and onions mix well for 2 minutes or until white onions are slightly softened.
- Salt and pepper to taste garnish with sesame seeds.

Attempts at Being a Grown Up

I am one of those people whose entire life is an adventure.
This may sound like a boastful statement, but its not and I will explain why. Now, just about everybody has adventures or occasionally eats at the Olive Garden instead of Chili's. But for me and Husband, just about every mundane detail of life becomes an adventure. This is not only due to my hyperbolic tendencies, but because we are incredibly unorganized, scatterbrained and impulsive. My Mom's favorite line is "How do you survive?!" The answer is, with difficulty. Every now and then after a particularly harrowing 'adventure' we stomp our feet and say enough! We will get organized! And we do. Well, we try. Here are some examples. This, was meant to be our mail system because paying bills on time became impossible when we were putting the mail in multiple piles all over the house.

See? Three slots, one for incoming, one for stuff that needed to be paid, and one for the outgoing. Fool Proof! Unless you don't use it that way and just start stuffing things in all the slots devil-may-care if its incoming or outgoing.
Then, we were going to make a drawer to contain all our important documents. Ooh Ahhhh. Genius. This is what it looks like now.

I am definitely messy, but usually if left alone I can talk my way back to a missing object. Husband on the other hand goes into a frenzy and starts overturning piles, emptying drawers, only to find the item in the fridge, or the trash....or in his pocket. Usually after this happens he decides he needs to 'clean'. The only problem is that his idea of cleaning means throwing everything away. And I mean everything.
For instance, a year ago we decided that we should get Zoe a microchip, because we love her and would go crazy if we ever lost her. So the vet micro-chipped her and gave me the the code and info I would need to activate online. I love Zoe, but for some reason I couldn't be bothered that day or week to do this. I'm sure I was incredibly busy with other 'adventures'. During this time, Husband went on a 'cleaning' bender and threw everything away. Including the activation codes for our beloved Z's microchip.
OK, So I'm totally ragging on poor Husband and that's not fair because most people who know me, know I cause plenty of the 'adventures'. Like, a visit to the Dentist. How on earth could that be exciting? Well, my sister was in town so we went to lunch then on over to my Dentist's office, which was closed. "Huh, could have sworn my appointment was at 1:30," but I don't write these things down, I rely on this 'steel trap' of a brain to remember it all. Drive back to Base, all the while calling the office, get to the gate  and I don't have my military ID, my drivers license or my credit card. Oops. Good thing I didn't have to pay for my appointment yet. Well, you have to have your Military ID to get on base, so I call my friend, she is used to these calls and said she'd be right over to pick us up. Run in the house, grab all my stuff, run out. Oops, run back in, almost forgot my keys. She drives us back to my car parked outside the gate just as I get through to the Dentist and, yes, I did have an appointment in 10 minutes. Whew!
"This would NEVER ever happen to me" says my sister.
And she's right, this would never happen to a grown up, but this is just life for me. Here's hoping that any day now our grown up genes switch on!

Sun Dried Tomato Pasta

Ahhh, so as you can tell I took a bit of a hiatus from the blog but now I'm back with a new recipe you gotta try!
Recently I had a request for an Italian recipe, this may not completely fit the bill but we really enjoyed it. Definitely a nice summery dish. If you cant find sun dried tomatoes in oil there are some that you can re-hydrate but they can be a bit chewy so look for the kind in oil.

Pasta
1lb Pasta
1/2 c pearled mozzarella
1 c cherry tomatoes, halved
1 c green peas, fresh or frozen
6 sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
1/2 c Parmesan

Sauce
5 sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/4 c chopped parsley
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

-Cook pasta as directed, drain and let cool
-Combine sauce ingredients in a food processor and pulse until almost smooth
-Combine pasta with cheeses, peas and tomatoes in a bowl then pour sauce over mixture and toss.