Friday Feature

Today's Friday Feature is Gaia Conceptions. Andrea uses certified organic and eco-friendly fabrics in all of her creations, and custom makes your order specifically to your size. That's great for a tall girl like me! :) She also hand dyes the fabric, so be sure to check out all of the color options.

I wanted to start today's feature with Gaia Conceptions' Secret Pocket Long Skirt. I actually have two of these, one in natural and one in avocado. Every time I wear one to school, I always seem to get compliments on them. And they've been great to wear this winter too, with a pair of leggings underneath to keep my legs nice and warm during car rider duty. (Secret Pocket Long Skirt, $72.00)

Another piece I always love to look at is The Market Dress. I love the 3/4 sleeve, which is great for cooler weather, but Andrea can make it with a different length of sleeve for you. (The Market Dress, $145.00)

One thing I love about Gaia Conceptions clothing, other than the made-to-order sizing, is the way the photographs show different ways you can layer her pieces. For example, I would never have thought to pair The Market Dress with a pair of pants, but they definitely look great together.

Hump Day Humor

Please allow me to put on my dork hat for just a bit. I happen to love Star Trek. The original series is my favorite (I love that the newest movie went back to those original characters!), but I like most of the others too. You can read about just how much I love them here.

Ben came across this video clip. Thanks, Ben! We both laughed pretty hard over this one. Now, Next Generation is Ben's favorite, and I think we've agreed to disagree. I do love Patrick Stewart, though.

So if you like the occasional (or not so occasional) Star Trek, definitely take a look at this clip. Out of context clips put together make for funny stuff!

Enjoy!

Music Monday

I was just watching a rerun of Whose Line is it Anyway? which is a hilarious show if you've never seen it. I'm sad they no longer make new episodes, because this really is one of my favorite shows. Ben says I cackle when I watch it...but...I can't help it if I do sometimes, they're hilarious!

Anyway, this was at the very end of the episode I just watched. It's a song, so it counts for Music Monday, but it's really funny too. Enjoy!

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy

I know what you're thinking. Jenn, you didn't cook at *all* this week! What about your New Year's Resolution to cook at least once or twice each week???? Pshaw, I say. Sunday ends the week, and I definitely cooked tonight.

I made "Everything Goes" Stir-Fry, with Garlic Toss For Noodles. The recipe for the stir-fry makes me smile, because it actually calls for two cups of "everything goes" veggies -- basically, whatever veggies you have on hand. So I put carrot, onion, red bell pepper, broccoli, zucchini, spinach, and tempeh in mine. I cooked the Garlic Toss in a separate pan so the flavors could all gel together into some spicy garlic goodness, and then mixed it in with the veggies right before serving. Yum!

Oh, and just a side note. Don't forget to check on your rice as it cooks. I was so busy stirring my Garlic Toss into the stir-fry that I ended up with little crispy pieces of rice at the bottom of the pan. Turned out fine, but Calamity Jenn nearly struck again.

Hump Day Humor

OK, so I'm not going to claim that I found this on my own. Ben and I were watching Daniel Tosh's show on Comedy Central recently, and he showed this clip. But I loved it so much I had to share it with you guys. Enjoy!

Chili-rific!

So this past weekend was our second annual Chili Supper. We had a bunch of people come up from Austin, along with a bunch of our local friends too. All together there were five different types of chili. Personally, I thought mine was the best... It was also the only veggie chili, and so was the only one I tried. But keeping with my New Year's Resolution to cook one month from one of my cookbooks once or twice a week, I made a new chili recipe. I tried out Sarah's Delicious Chili from How it All Vegan! and it was pretty tasty. I hadn't had chili with garbanzo beans before, but I have to say that I liked it. I would have added some additional spice to the recipe after taste testing for seasoning, but my in-laws were joining us for dinner, and my mother in law can't handle any spice right now. So I was the good daughter in law and made mine not very spicy. *pat on back*

I also made Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies. This would be only the second time that I've made vegan cookies. These turned out so yummy! I picked up some chocolate chips that were swirled with peanut butter and added walnuts. Yum! The consistency was different from a non-vegan cookie. My friend Nick said it reminded him of a biscuit, but to me it was a cross between cake, cookie and biscuit. So good, you definitely should try this one.

Well, It's Friday...

...and I missed today's Friday Feature. No worries, I'm full of excuses tonight.

1. We had a workday at school, and I was busy workday-ing.
2. Ben and I are having friends over tomorrow, and we were cleaning and washing sheets from the guest room.
3. Tomorrow is chili supper, so I made a grocery list.
4. Oh, and I was finishing up counting shrink wrap and packaging for inventory. That's my very least favorite part of inventory, don'tcha know.
5. And how could I forget, I seem to have hurt my back. Again. As in, my back stretches and Aleve haven't done a lick of good. So here I am, about to lay down in bed with the heating pad. Here's hoping it will feel better in the morning, or at least well enough to stretch it better than I could tonight.

And yes, I know it seems that I haven't cooked this week, despite my New Year's Resolution. Well, that would be because I haven't. Sunday I made a Use Up What You Have pasta-casserole-bake. I cooked up the last of the package of macaroni from Thanksgiving, and mixed it with the last of the veggies from when I made pizza that week, with the last of the Zesty Tomato Pesto sauce, also from pizza night, and the last of a package of veggie crumbles. Mix it all together, top with vegan Parmesan, bake for about 15 minutes at 350, and you're good to go. The leftovers made for pretty tasty lunches this week.

No worries, though. Tomorrow is Chili Supper. But enough for tonight. Right now my bed and heating pad are calling. Goodnight!

Music Monday

I just came home from dinner after my Orffestra program at school. Orffestra is my after-school club of 3rd and 4th graders. We sing and play Orff instruments, with a lot of the music we play coming from the Orff Music for Children Volumes, and basically have a good ol' musical time. Today's Music Monday is inspired by a different Carl Orff piece, Carmina Burana--one of my favorite vocal pieces *ever.*

Enjoy!

Pizza Crust is Hard to Do

Now just sing the title of this post to the tune of "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" and you'll be on the same page as me. Of course, it could be because right now I'm watching an episode of Buffy that has everyone singing and dancing.

Last night I tried my hand at making Yeast Free Pizza Crust, along with Zesty Tomato Pesto. Well the sauce turned out great, I added a bit more garlic and basil than the recipe called for, but then I do love garlic more than any other seasoning. The crust was another thing altogether. Yesterday I said it couldn't be too hard, but I think I spoke too soon. Should've learned my lesson from the lasagna noodle fiasco. Dough is hard...at least for me. *sigh* I'll get the hang of it eventually...

Music Monday.... and Go Frogs!

Today is not only Music Monday, it's also my first day back at school from Winter Break, Dinner No. 2 from my New Year's Resolution, AND... the TCU bowl game! Wow, what a busy day! I forgot how tired I always am the first day back at school, and then I had to run by the grocery to pick up a couple of things for tonight (like parsley... the store I was at yesterday didn't have it, gah!).

Honestly, the last thing I want to do tonight is cook. Fortunately, I'm making pizza, which is pretty painless. The only thing is, I'm making Zesty Tomato Pesto and Yeast Free Pizza Crust from How it all Vegan! I've never made pizza crust before, but it doesn't look so bad.

So here I am on the couch, already tuned into Fox, wearing TCU plaid flannel jammies, and a TCU t-shirt. Go Frogs, beat the Broncos! (The video isn't from when I played in the band not too long ago, but it's nice to see that pregame hasn't changed!)