Something strange is a foot..

Question: does anyone know why my blog is suddenly sporting this lovely green underlined words, which if clicked on brings up some funky search engine? And if you know what it is, how the heck do I get it off my blog???

Obsessed

Okay, so when I find a new song, or music artist that captures my imagination, or my emotions, I tend to listen to that song over and over and over again. I become a little obsessed with it. For instance the past three days I have been listening to the same four songs...M is loving me right now! All four songs have been featured on my favorite show, BONES. Love it. So, yeah, I might be a little obsessed but you should check out these songs...

Fearless by Cyndi Lauper

You by Fisher

A light on a hill by Margot & the Nuclear So and So's

Bring on the Wonder by Susan Enan

Update

Sometimes I love the internet..sometimes it is frustrating! So, went to the mail box yesterday, found a lovely brown parcel waiting for me. Went home excited, because it was my skirt, I was already planning my church outfit..shoes, shirt, hair..got home, opened said parcel...purple hues were exploding before my eyes..and buttons and collar. Wait a minute, I didn't order a purple dress! Opened it to make sure. Purple. This was not my skirt. Someone had messed up and it wasn't me! So, needless to say, the purple dress, although I'm sure someone out there thinks it is a beautiful, cute dress, is now making it's way back from whence it came, and hopefully I will receive my skirt sometime in the next week or two..so that is twice now that I have ordered something highly anticipated only to be dashed! But in other news, in the mail that day was also a very lard envelope with two beautiful hot pads from Tiffany...I would so recommend her etsy shop, found here..I am going to order some for my pops!

Some new recipes to try

I am obsessed with recipes. I love finding new ones, I love trying new ones, and every once in a while, my family actually loves them too! Sometimes they are forced fed, but there you are. I have tried two new recipes this week..one savory one sweet. I have to say, I liked the savory one, still on the fence with the sweet. I didn't get any pictures of the savory one, but here it goes:

Corn cakes:

Little pancakes with yummy sweet corn. The recipe called for fresh corn, but since that cannot be found, I used frozen, worked great!

1 1/2 cups corn

1/2 jalapeño (I used banana peppers, but just in half the batter)

1 cup milk

4 tbsp butter

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cup flour

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

1. in a medium sauce pan, combine corn, pepper, milk and butter. Simmer until butter is melted.

2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, then add the corn mixture, (temper the eggs, so add a little of the melted butter mix in at a time, so that you don't end up with scrambled eggs)

3. add the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder and mix until combined. Fold in cheese.

Add butter to your hot skillet, or griddle and make pancake sized cakes. Turning over once to brown both sides.

My kids actually ate this. I wasn't sure what to serve with them, so we just ate them with ranch dressing. But I think they would make a great base for Navajo tacos, or for a savory breakfast. YUM. I would have liked more spice in them, but my kids would have turned their noses at spice. You could pretty much add anything to this and make them even more yummy.

I found this recipe here at eat make read

this is my inspiration for this week. I just ordered this skirt from Anthropologie...it's mike's birthday present to me. (he just doesn't know that yet) I had ordered a skirt from another online store and it said it was my size, but the thighs do not lie, and it was not my size. And because I avoid the post office, I have yet to return the skirt. Maybe by summer I'll be able to squeeze into. If not, it will just be donated to my sister's closet. :) How are you guys doing??? I feel lonely out here in the blog world!

Long, Long Journey

In life, it seems as if we all have a journey ahead of us. Whether this journey is a short one, or a very long one, we all have to walk it. Life is also filled with all kinds of journeys. There is just life journeys, there are journeys to a goal, there are journeys to health...etc. My journey right now, is loosing weight. I was doing really well, and then July hit, and now I am 18 pounds heavier. I am more annoyed with myself than anything. How did I let myself go? I think we let ourselves go when we stop caring for ourselves. When we stop doing the important things. My journey is now to find myself, again. I have been trying to find that fight within, to keep trudging a long and really, to not give up. I suppose I don't have a Bob or a Jillian motivating me to get my butt into gear, thus, i will not loose ten pounds a week, which is fine. But a pound, i would love a pound! I'm putting it out here in this blog-world though, because I just need a place where i can vent, or cheer, or just be myself, no qualms, just me. So, indeed, it is a long, long journey to my goal. mainly I just want to be able to look at myself again and see me. I tend to not look at myself at all. Which is why the last time I went to walmart, i looked a little scary..my hair was sticking up in all sorts of odd angles, and my jacket was a bit dirty... but I just don't look at myself, I avoid it as much as possible. Maybe not a good thing. I have been avoiding my friends, and I have been avoiding life outside my home. I stay inside a lot....and it isn't just because of the cold weather. I don't want people to see me, I am embarrassed. I am the fat friend. The fat sister..and please do not tell me that I look fine..I saw the video of Christmas morning, I am not fine.. I don't like it. But I am taking the steps. My emotions right now, might seem a bit extreme, I know that. I am trying to assuage them, and put them back into the right perspective. See, part of my journey. I am trying to just not sabotage myself, that's the goal this week. I have a history of giving up on myself early in the game. Maybe I am afraid of succeeding, which sounds crazy. Why would anyone be afraid of success? I am. I have never really succeeded. Ever. So, what happens when i do? Will it really change me? Will I be the same? Will I be a better person? Or will i just remain the same, how um Emily? Not sure. But I know that if I do this, if i actually place myself on this journey with all my heart and soul, then I can succeed, and yes, that is a very scary thought, but it is also an enlightening thought as well. Success, the coming home of the journey. The end...how will that be? If I can imagine myself in heaven, successfully, then why not imagine myself as a healthy, happy woman? Right? Journeys are meant to be taken, and i have decided, chosen, my path. What is your journey??

Fancy hasselback potatoes

I stumbled onto a website while looking for low-carb recipes. I am a fan of the South Beach diet, and found a great resource for recipes, Kalyn's Kitchen. While looking at her other site, I found this blog Purple Foodie and it had some amazing recipes on it that I wanted to try.

Strictly speaking, while on the first phase of the south beach diet, you are not allowed potatoes, but since it is the holidays and I found these pretty potatoes. Here is a link to her website, where you can enjoy the full creative force of this blogger. http://purplefoodie.com/hasselback-potatoes/

So, I started with some regular old Idaho potatoes found at my local Wal-mart. And tonight I made them. I didn't make the pesto, because I was in doubt that my kids would even eat these potatoes and adding a green sauce might have been asking too much of the little picky eaters. Here is the end result:

Here are some tips if you try and make these fancy potatoes..I would parboil the potatoes like it says too on the blog, I think it would help when you go to stuff the potatoes. And make sure to add enough garlic in it! Mine was lacking in the flavor department. Also, i would have used a brush instead of just drizzling the oil on. The bottom of the potatoes were really crunchy and it was slightly hard to eat. But all in all this recipe was fun to make, it called for a fanciness to my cooking, and I thought it was great and actually really easy.

And now I have to go and take care of the screaming, red faced terror who has been crying at my feet for the last five minutes...:) If you try these potatoes out, let me know! And visit the Purple Foodie, she has some really nice recipes that i am dying to try!