Monday, August 30, 2010

Lemon-Thyme chicken

This is one of my favorite ways to make chicken--also a bonus because chicken quarters go on sale for $.69-.89 a pound!

 (This is the chicken before I cooked it! Just in case you were wondering)

 Lemon Thyme chicken
2 chicken quarters (thigh and leg)
1 lemon
8 or so sprigs of fresh thyme
fresh rosemary
1/2 stick butter

Put the chicken in a roasting pan (I use a cast iron dutch oven) skin side up, cut the lemon in half, squeeze the juice over the chicken and throw the two halved in the pan.  Put the herbs on top of the chicken, season with salt and pepper then cut the butter into small chunks and put it on the chicken.  Roast for about 5-10 minutes at 425 to make the skin crispy, then bake at 350 for about an  hour or until a meat thermometer reads 165.

I served it with some mashed sweet potatoes!  Yum!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Cereal deal

For those of you who shop at HyVee there is a great deal on General Mills cereal and Era laundry detergent.
I got six boxes of cereal and a 100 oz bottle of Era for $6!  I was excited :-)
I had a coupon for the cereal and for the detergent that I got from the paper, and found a box of Multi-grain Cheerios (my favorite, but I never buy them because they are usually too expensive) marked down because the box was squished!
Here's the link to the HyVee coupon. Basically you get $10 instantly and a $6 Catalina prints off for next time (mine didn't print off for some reason, but one of the managers was really nice and was able to get it to print for me).

I also got my hubby Cinnamon Toast Crunch--his favorite.  My guy LOVES cinnamon.  And oatmeal.  And butterscotch.  But not all together. :-)

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

anniversary trip


This last Sunday was our first wedding anniversary--we've been planning a trip for a while for a get a way weekend.  We rented a cabin in near Dubuque and it was awesome--there were three cabins--two were empty except for a group in one of them on Saturday night.  They were out in the middle of nowhere and beautiful!  Here's a view from our cabin: 













And the cabin itself--it had four bedrooms in the tower--we were not lacking on space!










On Saturday we went to a local winery for a wine tasting (neither of us had ever done that before but it was fun, and there was a really cute dog there)
Then on Sunday we went to Dubuque to walk along the Mississipi
Then we went to Galena, IL to look around the cute shops that are there and then went out to dinner--it was an awesome weekend!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Dealios

I've said that one of my new hobbies is looking for deals--to help our budget go as far as possible!
That said, I have had a ton of help from a few blogs that I read regularly Deal Seeking Mom and Money Saving Mom (I realize that I am not a mom, but these sites don't require that you have children :-)  I have been able to get some pretty sweet deals, and reading these has helped me learn how to use coupons--not very good at it yet, but I'm working on it!  But an awesome deal that I got today was this razor rebate so basically I will have a razor (and extra blade) for Mike free after the rebate.  Thought I'd pass it along!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Fill in the blank Friday

I am going to borrow the idea from my friend Monica and do a fill in the blank post!



1. Today for breakfast I ate... cinnamon graham crackers
2. My go to/never fail recipe is... pizza--I love to make all different kinds like pepperoni, BBQ, breakfast--can't go wrong with toppings and homemade oatmeal crust.  (I did try to make Thai flavored pizza a week or two ago, and it was nasty though :-) so I guess you can go wrong!

3. Something I eat that other people think is weird is... I almost always eat leftovers cold.  And for breakfast (you aren't weird Monica!)

4. My worst cooking disaster ever was when I tried to make a... French Breakfast Puffs, which are a Christmas morning tradition in my family--I used cornstarch instead of baking soda.  I had hockey pucks, not breakfast puffs!
5. If I could only eat one flavor of ice cream the rest of my life it would be... I'm not a big fan of ice cream, but I love the strawberry jalapeno gelato from Capanna here in Ames

6. One food I hate and avoid at all costs is... ah, I can't really think of any food I detest :-) I'll pretty much try anything once.  Oh wait--squid/calamari is gross, and I will not eat organ meats like liver or kidney....blech.
 
7. What is your favorite meal? Breakfast, lunch, or dinner?... umm breakfast for dinner?  I love pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit etc., but I don't like to eat them in the morning!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

I am a nurse, yes I am

I'm almost done with my first week as an RN at Mary Greeley Medical Center here in Ames.  I am working full time days/evenings.  So I work two weeks of 3-1130pm and then two weeks of 7-330pm, with every other weekend and holidays, but I don't know which yet!
I had to buy a bunch of scrubs--all either navy or white, because nurses can only wear those colors--but it does make it nice because I don't have to think about what to wear to work--just pull out a random top and pair of pants.  :-)
I'm so glad God provided a job for me--we want to use the money from my salary to save up for a house to buy someday!  Plus I was getting super bored sitting at home most of the time.
I actually interviewed for a night position and a part time position but I was offered two day/evening positions (on different floors) so I was able to choose the floor I really wanted to work on.  What a blessing!

I haven't really stopped feeling like a student yet--except that technically I can do everything myself (like IVs, meds, assessments, etc) without supervision since I am licensed!
I have a great nurse training me and it has been pretty cool so far--but it's a bummer that I really don't see Mike on the weeks I work evenings :-(  But he's coming to eat dinner with me tonight at the fabulous Cafe on Grand (aka the Mary Greeley cafeteria)! And we are going to the zoo in Des Moines this weekend--I love zoos!