Black Bean Quesadilla

Some days my mind is like a blank tortilla. Blank as blank can be. I haven't been too inspired lately, but I'm getting back into the baking mode, which is a good thing considering that I have 10 pounds of flour that I need to use. And lots of sugar too.

But in any case, I have black bean cravings like crazy and while Bimmer Man was studying for his finals, quesadillas were the easiest thing for me to make whilst pining away for my man.

Ok, so maybe not pining because Grey's was on, but still. It's hard to cook for one. Any good cookbooks with meals for two? I would totally buy them...
But I digress. This is a baked quesadilla. I didn't have time for that flipping on the stove crap plus the baking sheet was already out (had someone made a frozen pizza???). So I used it and washed dishes while it baked.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Layer cheese and black beans on top of each other. you can add in salsa, green onions, etc... but I just kept it simple. I don't really care what you put in, mostly because this meal totally reminds me of Rachael Ray (and she probably has made this meal) and she has super easy recipes that you don't feel bad if you swap the ingredients. Or like this recipe from Sandra Lee.
Then top with another tortilla and bake for about 5 minutes on each side.
Cut into 4 sections and eat.

So yes, this is super easy and fun to eat. Maybe good for kids? (I don't have kids)

Enjoy this quick quesadilla!

Peanut Butter Cookies

If you know me at all, then you know I put LOTS and LOTS of peanut butter in Kongs. In fact THE MONSTER even has his own blog. And for once, the humans in the house got a peanut butter treat. Can you believe it?
The hardest part of making them is the amount of time it takes to roll them up into balls.
And then make the design with a fork. I've never made peanut butter cookies, so I was hoping they weren't too, um, well, flat. If you know what I mean.
In the end one lesson was learned. Use two cookie sheets next time, don't crowd them all on one. And make at least two batches - one for the doggie daycare people and one for work too. And save at least 4 to keep at home.
Yum... These are fabulous and I definitely recommend them for all those that aren't allergic to peanut butter.

Peanut Butter Cookies
From the KitchenAid Mixer Instruction Booklet (yes, the recipes are really worth trying!)

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

Place peanut butter and butter in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to speed 6 and beat about 1 minute, or until mixture is smooth. Stop and scrape bowl. Add sugars, egg, and vanilla. Turn to speed 4 and beat about 1 minute. Stop and scrape bowl.

Turn to stir speed. Gradually add all remaining ingredients to sugar mixture and mix about 30 seconds. Turn to speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds.

Roll dough into 1 inch ball. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Press flat with fork in a criss-cross pattern to 1/4 inch thickness.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheets immediately and cool on wire racks.

Go Green: Make Your Own Soft Scrub

So to start this off, I'm going green and have been for awhile, I've just been waiting for my bathroom cleansers to run out so I could recycle the bottles and then make my own. I love using soft scrub, but I can't stand the nasty smells.

So I googled around a little bit for some bathroom cleaning recipes and kinda just well, dumped some stuff in a container. But it's the same consistency of soft scrub and it also smells 10 times better. And it's not a carcinogen. Plus it gets the gross crap off the sink and tub.
First, you'll start with a cup of baking soda (note the gigantic bag, that can be found at Sam's Club) and put that into the container that you'll use. Then start pouring in the Dr. Bronner's.
I think I started off with about a 1/4 of a cup, but the consistency wasn't quite right for soft scrub.
So just keep pouring... It should be nice and smooth, but still gritty - you need to be able to put a glop on the sink and scrub without it feeling too soapy.
So total, I think this is what I used:

3/4 cup Dr. Bronner's (I like the tea tree because I think it smells like a spa)
1 cup baking soda

Mix until you have soft scrub.

This can be used in your kitchen sink, bathroom sink, bathtub and anything that really needs a good scrubbing. I go through this much in about 3 - 4 weeks.

Eh, I'm not really all that sure how many people are interested in making their own cleaning supplies, but I thought I'd share anyway considering how many people are surprised that I make my own. I thought I might add in the essential oil, but the tea tree oil smells really good. Dr. Bronner's has several different scents. Lavender is great too!

Maybe I'll share my all purpose cleaner next! That's an easy one too!

I Want An Outdoor Space

I so want an outdoor space to lounge in. At my mom's house, it's the garage, at our current house we don't have much of a yard so really there's no space for outdoor furniture.

Bimmer Man, if you are reading this, please, let's buy a house with space for an outdoor patio.

Ok, let me rephrase that: I WANT AN OUTDOOR PATIO. WHERE WE CAN HAVE REAL FURNITURE AND NOT THAT PLASTIC CRAP.

The picture above is from Smith & Hawken which I really adore. The problem is, what I'd like would cost more than $2,000. And those are with the prices on sale. Technically speaking, if both of us were working, that wouldn't be a horrible amount of money to drop on furniture. But we need a house first.
But you see, I'd like to eat outside too.

So not only do we need a spot to "lounge" but we'll need a table and chair set too. Above, the set from Pottery Barn is $1,899.00 and THAT'S ON SALE.

Ugh, I have to admit, I'm really great at spending money we don't have... but it's super nice to dream about what we could have... Eventually!

So in the meantime, I'll be looking for cheap knock offs and houses with beautiful yards that we're able to use!

Happy Tuesday!

Giveaway!!!

One set of 6 photo cards - your choice of the truck or the flowers.

It's just a way of saying thank you for putting up with me for now over 2 years and 300 posts.

Just post a comment to enter. Winner will be chosen randomly on Friday, May 15.

McTatty

And 3 Years Comes to an End...

I don't think I've posted too many pictures of Bimmer Man and I...

So here's one of very few! Happy Mother's Day (Doggie Moms included too) and Happy Graduation!

The Indy 500

No, this year we're not going but I just have to attention whore for a minute.

Last night we went go karting in Indianapolis. On Pole Day.

With Townsend Bell. And most of the Indy Lights racecar drivers. Let me tell you, you'd never think that you'd walk into a go karting place and see what you think is a bunch of high schoolers just playing around when they're actually pro racing drivers. And they were nuts on the track! Seriously, they'd bump into each other, brake check and slam each other into the wall. And their times were amazing.

But since Bimmer Man has been doing driving schools, his times were around the same as the pro drivers.

Hmmm.... Interesting, right????

(It made me feel kinda old, being around teenagers that were racing. And no I wasn't starstruck by the way considering that they were totally normal teenagers off the racetrack!)

Just one perk of living near Indianapolis during the 500...

Exciting News!

Bimmer Man is done with school. Forever. Well, unless he wants to go back.

Graduation is on Saturday and I'm sooooo excited!

Unfortunately that also means that I have to clean. If you don't know about this, take some inspiration from the eclipse cleaning system from The Container Store. But I kind of have a cleaning problem.

It's called DOG FUR.

Since I'm fairly eco-friendly, I've decided that I need to get a new mop, but that doesn't really conquer the dog fur. For dog fur I've been using the Swiffer and the Swiffer disposable sheets (I know, I know, you can totally reprimand me!) but I just don't know any other way to get all the dog fur. We have all wood floors, thank goodness otherwise I think our vacuum probably would've died by now.

If you have a dog - how do you clean the fur balls from your floors without using the Swiffer disposable sheets?

If you use microfiber cloths, how the heck do you get all the fur off?

Easy Turkey Meatballs

Start with the dry ingredients - 1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp Italian seasoning.
Then add 1 lb ground turkey. Honestly, you can mix up ground chicken or pork or beef or lamb or whatever. They're meatballs.
Then mix the ingredients by hand, shape into a ball and cook in a very large pan over medium-high heat. They only need to be brown on 3 sides, not cooked through so don't walk away from the pan! Then remove and set aside for later.
Seriously. The best Italian seasoning ever (well, not really because I like to mix my own but this was cheap at Sam's Club!).
Make a quick tomato sauce - 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp Italian seasoning. Let simmer for about 5 minutes.
Then add the meatballs back in to finish cooking for another 10 - 12 minutes. Not too long - you don't want dry meatballs!
I had gnocchi leftover, so that's what I made to go with.

Yum! Turkey meatballs with gnocchi!

1 lb ground turkey (or beef, chicken, lamb, pork, etc...)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg
2 tbsp Italian seasoning, separated
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes

Form the meatballs with the turkey, cheese, bread crumbs, 1 tbsp seasoning and egg. Saute over medium high heat, browning on at least 3 sides. Remove from pan set aside.

Add the 2 cans of tomatoes to the pan stirring in the remaining seasoning. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add in the meatballs. Simmer another 10 - 12 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.

Serve with pasta or gnocchi.

Enjoy!

WOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I read the book. Absolutely loved it - totally wish that I would've followed her blog when it was happening and now here's the movie!!

Bimmer Man will most likely not come with me. Anyone else wanna go when it comes out???