About Me

Words to describe me include: fun-loving, kind, caring, outgoing and up for a new adventure. Some of my interests in a nutshell, gardening, crafts, cooking, the outdoors, camping, hiking, photography, and creating positive relationships.

Friday, September 4, 2009

I MADE A WEBSITE!

I am so impressed with myself!!
I created a website tonight for my friend Lauren and I to sell our photo work on! I can't believe I even set it up for people to make direct purchases!

http://annieandlauren.yolasite.com/

Check it out!!!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Minnesota River.

This weekend I am in Mankato taking care of my mom's dog. Yesterday morning I decided to walk by the Minnesota River and take photos. While I was back by the river I saw this.



At first I saw one deer across the river. Then as I sat quietly and observed. I saw something running through the trees. I waited and eventually three more deer emerged from the woods.

I also got some great scenic photos.

A view of the river.



Little Mushrooms



A secret view



Tranquil view



Some purple flowers


Grapes



I love to photograph cone flowers. I wanted to try a different angle.



NSP-Northern States Power aka Xcel energy.
How the times have changed. My grandpa retired from here.


The Minnesota river ever-changing and never changing. It changes as the climate changes. It remains the same as a constant, always there. If you would like to see all of the photos I took at the Minnesota River, click on this link: More Photos!

Enjoy!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Don't Mess with Texas


Today I was picking up our bedroom and came across a big blue Styrofoam hat that I bought Steve when we were in San Antonio last fall.

I got excited because I thought the Vikings were playing Texas tonight for the preseason game. I wanted to weat it to watch the game with my friend Esther tonight. I ran into the spare bedroom where Steve was studying while wearing the hat.

After ignoring the hat for 10 months,
it's been in our room longer than we've had the dogs, Skippy decided it was evil. We got a video of him and his reaction to the hat.




Steve then put on the hat to see if it was just me. It wasn't.




Steve went in the hall way and hid. When he came out, Skippy ran down the steps so fast, he practically slip down on his belly. He kept coming up the steps. When he saw Steve he would run. Skippy goes into play mode with the hat. He runs away and then comes back for more. You can see how his tail is wagging in play mode and his face looks like it is smiling.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Early morning hunt.


Early morning hunt. , originally uploaded by Metro Annie.

Mankato is having a photo contest for their annual calendar. I was thinking of submitting this photo. What do you think?

This is Skippy running through the trees at the Kiwanis dog park in Mankato.

Good Morning Sunshine.


Good Morning Sunshine., originally uploaded by Metro Annie.

Another flower at the dog park in Mankato.

Cone Flower with bee


Cone Flower with bee, originally uploaded by Metro Annie.

A flower at the dog park in Mankato.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

I have started creating blank cards with my photos. I will be selling them locally.










The bottom color of the card can be ash, light green, or, raisin. As seen above. Just let me know. :-) I have many more to chose from.

Contact me if you are interested in purchasing any of my cards.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Old Dodge Ball Vidoes.

When I worked at the salon we entered a dodge ball competion. We did not anticipate that every other team would consist of men! We were the only female team. Watch these videos for a good laugh!



The rule was not to cross the blue line. I am the one in the orange shorts. I am not very good at following the rules!!



This time we went up to compete and it was not our turn to play!!!



The final game.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Minneapolis Aquatennial Fireworks

These are a few photos I took during the Minneapolis Aquatennial. I then put them together into a slide show. Enjoy!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

A long time gone.

I have not blogged for a very long time! Now that it is summer I have much more time for the things I enjoy doing, including giving updates via blog.

I have still busy in the kitchen creating wonderful foods. Steve and I had planned a fondue party
for him the day that he had finished the biggest test of his life for medical school. The day before the party I had an interview and got the job in the same day. So we decided to have a superhero theme for the party because we were feeling pretty proud of ourselves.

We had three types of fondue:
(click on the titles for the recipes)

Beef Fondue with Sauces

This included cutting the steak into cubes and cooking them in the pot of oil. The three sauces included a curry, a garlic dijon mustard, and an onion horseradish. Ev
eryone liked this, we even dipped bread for our cheese fondue in meat dips.

Chocolate Bar Fondue
I used chocolate chips instead of shredding a chocolate bar. I also did not add the coffee. Everyone liked this fondue. For this we had strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, kiwis, bananas, raspberries, and angel food cake.

Cheese Fondue
This was good. It used three different cheeses, two I had never heard of. It was delicious. We used a french baguette, everything and plain bagels all cut up.

We also played Pin the Shield on Superman, Cranium Pop 5, and Apples to Apples. The party was a success!




This is Kara after she put on Superman mask. Everyone had different shield stickers (Superman, Batman, Spiderman) on their shirts too. She is about to get spun around to put shield on Superman.



She is putting the shield just a tad to the left of where it belonged.


The final result after everyone put their shields on Superman.


I have also started making gyros! They are Mmm...delicious! I found a recipe for a marinade on my favorite recipe website. www.allrecipes.com
  • 3/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
I then broiled the chicken.

I then use whole wheat pita pockets. I use the Tzatziki Sauce (cucumber sauce) from Trader Joe's. I added romaine lettuce, raw onions, and tomatoes. It is very good, cooling on a hot day.

This inspired the pasta salad I created the other day. I marinated the chicken overnight, then I baked it in the mixture above. Except I was out of oregano, so I sprinkled Italian seasoning over each chicken breast. I also sprinkled the black pepper over each breast. When I was ready to bake the chicken. I put red onions on top of the chicken. While the chicken was baking I boiled a whole bag of organic whole wheat penne pasta from Trader Joe's. At the very end of the time the pasta was cooking, I added a bag of frozen red, yellow, and green peppers. When the chicken was done, I cut it into cubes. I added the pasta, peppers, onions, chicken and the baked marinade in a large bowl and mixed it well. I then added feta cheese on each individual serving. It was wonderful!



This is before the feta cheese is added.



We have also adopted an 11 month Yorkiepoo. She is 9 pounds and looks more like a poodle after her hair cut. Her and Skippy are always playing together. They also cuddle together. It is adorable.


This is before we got her groomed. When we got her home, I had to cut the hair around her eyes becuse it was covering her eyes. The hair from her nose was also covering her eyes.


This is her after.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Mimi's warm spot

Misha was shivering last night. She was cold, so when we went to bed, we put a heating pad on low and a blanket around it. She loved it!
New Message on Twitpic

Sunday, April 5, 2009

New Beginnings

Hello! Good Morning.

I have not wrote an update in awhile. The funny thing is, I was told by people, you need to update your blog! So here I am.

This is the beginning of new changes in my life. I am uncertain of what is to come for me. I found out that enrollment is down at my school next year. I am the teacher with the least amount of time with the district. I am not needed next year. This is one chapter ending and another beginning. Although I am uncertain of the future, I feel this will be an opportunity for me. SOOO, IF YOU HEAR OF ANY DISTRICTS NEEDING A FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCE TEACHER, LET ME KNOW. =-D Or anything else that sounds like it would be up my alley. It will be greatly appreciated.

I am pretty excited! I got several new cook books yesterday:
Deceptively Delicious, Jessica Seinfeld - I thought this looked good because it incorporates veggies/fruits into the recipes.
Secrets of Fat-Free cooking, Sandra Woodruff - Steve's dad can't eat much fat because he has to have his gall bladder removed. His parents are coming down for Easter, I wanted to get some ideas. I also thought this would be good just for eating healthier too.
Smoothies and Juices, Christine Ambridge - Mom found this and I love love love to make smoothies, this has smoothies for all occasions. Wonderful!

I also got a new pair of shoes (Nike Shox-silver and lavender) for the Y. My old ones were pretty worn out. I am back on my healthy kick. Yay! I will be counting my points and eating healthier. Using the cookbooks above and also Hungry Girl, Lisa Lillien; this book is more about one serving meals that are low in points and very filling. As I was shopping yesterday I found lots of fun workout clothes; I did not buy them. My reward for staying on track will be various items of work out clothes that I want. It will motivate me to get my butt in gear. Not only will I be using my YMCA membership, I also use my wii fit, and I have been out rollerblading with Ashley. Our goal by the end of the summer is to be able to skate from Cannon Falls to Red Wing, 19 miles. We figured that since we started skating in March that by the end of the summer we can do it. We have also talked about participating in the North Shore Inline Marathon in September.

Mom and I will be participating in the Breast Cancer walk on Mother's day this year. My mom is a breast cancer survivor. :-DD We are our own team. Just the two of us. It is how we are in life too. We have always been a team. We are not registered as an actual team, but we came up with a pretty Snazzy name...are you ready...Marty Borough (Irish) - Like Mardi Gras!!! Heehehe! We will deck ourselves out in beads and other garb. It should be a great time. Mom and I had a blast last year. :-) Love you Mom! <3>

I haven't had any time to try new recipes, but with these new cookbooks, I am sure I will soon!

*****SHOPPING ALERT******

I have a new favorite place to shop, www.amazon.com. I love it! I will go to the store and find something that I like. I will then go home and find the same thing on amazon for much cheaper! It's the best ever. Last weekend I went to Barnes and Noble, I found two books that would of totalled $32 plus tax. I went to www.half.com and searched the books and found each book for $0.75!! I am now an online shopping girl! Steve accidentally washed his cell phone with the laundry. We had to replace the phone. I got the Samsung Instinct (pink). I love it! I ordered a case(black/white zebra print)/plastic cover/charger all on amazon for less than just one of those items at Best Buy!

Off to do laundry, dishes and cleaning. Woo Hoo! *sarcasm* What a happy Sunday. At least it will be productive. I also want to read my Sunday Star Tribune.

Have a great day!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Success!

Spring break is here! I am definately enjoying my time off. I have been very busy in the kitchen! :-)

I went on to one of my all-time favorite recipe websites,
www.allrecipes.com, and then did a search. Then I added all of the recipes to the shopping list. That is the neatest tool! It creates the list combines all the recipes and gives you the exact measurement needed so when you are shopping you know how much to get. It even lists the items needed by the department you will find them in. I also really like this website because it calculates the recipe for the amount of servings you want. It also gives you nutrition information. The reviews from the other users are great too!

Yesterday I did it! I created the "exotic" pizza. Not really, but that's what Steve thought, ha! I made a crust from scratch via Betty Crocker.

1 package regular yeast or dry active yeast
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive/vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt

Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Then roll out on to the greased/floured pan. For thin crust bake immedately, for thick crust let rise again for 30-45 min.

I made a thick crust. I made a white sauce to put on top of the pizza. I browned 1/2 # of sausage. I added 2 cloves of fresh garlic and 1 tsp of Italian seasoning. I cut up one potato, I boiled it in water. I also sliced up 1/2 an onion. When the crust came out of the oven, I spread on the white sauce. I then added the Italian sausage, potato, Hormel real bacon bits, onion, mozzarella cheese and a little cheddar on the top.

It turened out delicious! Steve admitted it WAS good. :-D I do know a thing or two when it comes to cooking and what would be good. I think it could also be made as a breakfast pizza, doing everything the same but adding scrambled eggs to the mix before baking. This was a thick crust so it was very filling.

On Monday, I made barbecued pulled pork in the crock pot...mmm...mmm...good!
I found this on allrecipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Pulled-Pork/Detail.aspx
This is VERY easy. You put in the roast, pour in root beer and let it cook. When it is done add barbecue. We added Famous Dave's. I got whole wheat buns and Bibb/Boston lettuce from Trader Joe's This gave the sandwich good texture and color. I served this with a pickle and Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips. I then added Chipotle Mayo from Target for Steve, he likes things with a little more spice/heat. I just had mine plain and it was delicious.

Today for lunch I made my super-duper top secret red chili, I made my own recipe ;). That too was pretty darn good! For dinner, my 17, almost 18 year old brother is visiting. I have a beef roast in the crock pot with cream of mushroom soup and french onion mix. Here is the recipe from allrecipes:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Awesome-Slow-Cooker-Pot-Roast/Detail.aspx
I then added onion on top of the roast. I also added peeled potatoes and carrots. It is supposed to make it's own gravy, I am sure I am going to have to thicken it up when the meat is done. I will update later on how this turns out. So far it is all cooking very well.

I also finished a book by Jodi Picoult, My Sisters Keeper. WOW! Amazing, if you haven't read it I highly recommend it.

Skippy go neutered on Monday. He is healing very well. I wouldn't even think that he had the surgery except that he has a lampshade on his head and an incision. He runs around just like usual, his happy-go-lucky self! He has been enjoying the patio.

That is all for now, I will update later!
Tootles :o)


***UPDATE***
The roast turned out really well. I think next time I might try buying a different cut of meat. It was good, but not as good as Mom's. :-)) But for my first time, I think I did pretty darn good! The gravy turned out and the potatoes and carrots were also good. Steve really really liked it too.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Pfew!

Ahhhh! *exhaling* What a day!

Mr. Skippy is going through puberty! He is just like my students and does not know what to do with himself! He is giving me a headache. I don't know what to do with myself either! Ha! I can not wait for spring break. It is a well needed vacation. It is also good because I made an appointment to get Mr. Skippy neutered! :-)) Then hopefully he will go back to being the sweet puppy and not psycho crazy dog. This just started this past week. He just turned 6 months. On Saturday Steve took him to the park and he started lifting up his leg to go on trees. He is only a 20 pound dog! We'll "fix" him real quick! :-) I've included a video of him after his bath. Which I described yesterday, check it out.

I made a delicious smoothie! I added fresh strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen peaches, 1/2 a frozen banana, and 3 frozen peach slices. I added orange crystal light for my liquid. Dee-lish!

I baked tilapia tonight with lemon herb, it was delicious!

So now I am going to veg out and watch tv and hopefully go to bed early!! Man, is this daylight savings time killing me in the mornings!


Have a great evening!
Annie


Monday, March 9, 2009

Good Day!

Good Evening!

Today went by very very fast. The kids made bisquick cherry swirl coffee cake. They glaze and eat it tomorrow. It looks delicious.

I was prepared with my food and I stayed within my points range! Yay me! I also took the dog out for a walk around my neighbor hood. I met some friendly people who also had dogs. What a great way to meet your neighbors. The dogs just walk up to each other and then you're forced to say hi. One of the people is a teacher in the same school district as me!

When we got back Skippy was nuts! He was barking like crazy and running around. I then gave him a bath, he was even crazier. He proceeded to run back and forth between the two bedrooms, marking the floor mid-run, and tried to take all of the covers off of the bed. He was using his head as a bulldozer! He finally settled down. I don't think he likes the feeling of being wet and he also had his raging hormones and has no self control.

Now I am sipping hot cocoa and watching Dancing With The Stars.
Tootles!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

A New Week

It is now bedtime. I thought I'd write a quick blog before I go down for the count.

I love that it is daylight savings! It is so motivating! It feels like spring and summer are soon on the way. It means more time outdoors. :-)

For dinner I marinated chicken in lemon pepper marinade. I then put it in the crock pot; I added 2 cups of chicken broth to cover the chicken. I cooked it on high for 4 hours and it was perfect! So simple. The meat was so tender it broke with the fork. I didn't even need a knife. I also peeled carrots and potatoes and boiled them.

I am confident I am going to have a great week! I am going to follow the WW points! I have leftovers (2 meals) of the chicken, carrots, and potatoes. I bought Talapia, Fiber One muffins, fresh strawberries and raspberries today too. I love berries! This evening I made WW 0 POINT soup. It is very tasty.

Now that it is day light longer I feel like I will be more motivated to work out too! If not at the YMCA, on the Wii fit.

So long, and good night!
Annie

Day 2

Good Morning!!!

Today I made us blueberry stuffed french toast...a little putsy but VERY easy! Just cutting bread and cream cheese. I took the texas toast and cut it in 4 stacks of 3. Steve cut the cream cheese. Then you throw it all in a 3L baking pan. That's it!


Here is the link to the recipe.
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/1638/Big-Blueberry-Stuffed-French-T107856.shtml
I did not make the syrup though. I just bought a bottle of blueberry syrup.
I also used frozen blueberries and low fat cream cheese.


Steve loved it! He said it was very good, 9 out of 10. I have to agree with him on this.

This is something you can put together the night before (the bread, the cream cheese and the blueberries) and (1st pour egg mixture on top) bake the following morning. It would be great if you have a group for breakfast.

I currently have chicken breasts marinating in lemon pepper marinade. I am going to either bake it or find some way to put it in the crock pot. I will give an update later. :-)


Skippy decided that he really likes cream cheese. As we were cutting the cream cheese into small cubes he was on his hind legs sniffing all around the kitchen. When we put the wrapper in the garbage, he then sat by the garbage and cried. He then go sneaky and grabbed the wrapper out of the garbage and frantically started licking it, knowing I would quickly come to snatch it away from him.

Happy Cooking!
Annie

Saturday, March 7, 2009

First TIme

Today is my first day as a blogger.
Here are my hopes and goals of this blog:

  • Share the stories in my life. I love a new adventure. I always have very strange things happen to me. I am accident prone.
  • My stories as a weight watcher member.
  • I love to cook. I want to share my adventures in the kitchen. I will rate and review recipies I have tried.
  • I will rate and review resturants I have tried.
  • I teach middle school FACS (Family Consumer Science), it grew out of Home Economics. Always an adventure in the classroom.
  • I also have a 6 month old puppy. His name is Skippy, he is a Cavapoo. This is a mix of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Poodle.
  • I am not a writer.

I hope you will find enjoyment in my stories I share.

My new "concoction" I want to try in the kitchen is potato pizza! I've had it before at the Green Mill and at the Minnesota State Fair. Both have been very good. I plan on making the crust from scratch via Betty Crocker. I will make a white sauce from Homemade Gourmet. I plan on cooking the potatoes then cutting them up and putting them on the pizza.

My boyfriend Steve is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. So I plan on browning a quarter pound of sausage with some garlic. We love garlic. I will put Italian sausage, bacon bits, mozzarella cheese, some cheddar cheese, onion and potatoes on the pizza. I am not sure of the seasonings I want to add yet. When I had it at the State Fair, it was dill, they also had rosemary. I will have to do some research on this still. Steve is very hesitant, he told me he doesn't like "exotic" pizza's. I think the combination of white sauce and potatoes on a pizza makes him nervous.

I am certain when I make this he will love it! I often make things, and surprise him. He doesn't have a sense of smell so he can be in the other room and have no idea what I am making! When ever it comes fresh out of the oven he is always happy.

I will update when I actually create this pizza!

As for breakfast tomorrow I am either going to make blueberry stuffed cream cheese french toast or carmel rolls from scratch. Yet TBD.

All for now! Good night :-)

Comments are always welcome!