And it begins...

Thank goodness that wasn't our car!

Bracing for Irene

Here on the North Carolina Coast we're bracing for Irene.  Please keep us and everyone in the storm's path in your prayers.  Right now we have a major calm before the storm...eerily calm.

Taking a break...

I've been really busy getting ready for the upcoming school year.  The students move back to campus this weekend and a new routine will take over.  Hopefully I'll get back in the swing of things soon!

Oh How Pinteresting...

Well normally I would be linking up with What I Wore Wednesday over at the Pleated Poppy.  But, alas, even though I have been dressing a bit better, I haven't been taking pictures.

But, I have been spending plenty of time over at Pinterest!  So here's what I've been pinning, and I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple for her link party Oh, How Pinteresting

I may have 13 boards already.  Is that too much? NEVER! 

 

Source: naturallymeashley.tumblr.com via jeni on Pinterest

Source: mousechirpy-polkadotpineapple.blogspot.com via jeni on Pinterest

Source: shannonbrown.typepad.com via jeni on Pinterest

Source: polyvore.com via jeni on Pinterest

My tiny kitchen cabinet...

...gets a tiny makeover.

I've been on kind of an organizing binge lately, and its a good binge to be on!  I did a clean out & reorganization of our linen closet almost a month ago and decided to take "before" pictures of all of my storage spaces while I was at it.  So, slowly, I have been tackling different spaces.  An easy evening project was our smallest cabinet in the kitchen that had become a catchall and the snack area that is on the counter below it.  So here are the results:

See...I told ya its tiny!

 In the Before shot:  The top & middle shelves housed assorted drink mixes & vitamins and the bottom was my shot glass collection.  I've been picking them up everywhere we travel for years and it might be getting a bit out of control.  I felt like they were taking up valuable real estate so they were put in a box and stored in a cabinet that isn't easily accessible. 

In the After shot:  The top shelf houses our tea and the drink mixes that don't get used on a regular basis.  The middle shelf & bottom shelf are now dedicated to getting ready to leave the house in the morning.  The middle shelf has a box of MixiStixx (individual crystal light type drink mixes) and fiber powder so I can whip up a quick morning drink to take to work.  The bottom shelf has our Shaklee Vitalizer packs & my Glucosamine and A's gatorade powder.  If you haven't figured it out...we don't drink much plain water :)

Under the cabinet on the counter top

In the Before shot:  Everything was cluttered in this space.  The bulky canisters don't really fit on our counters.  I actually have 4 of them, but at most have 2 or 3 actually in use, the others get thrown in our coat closet for storage.  The box of MixiStixx is just sitting out behind the canisters taking up valuable counter space.

In the After shot:  I have 3 canisters filled and lined up against the backsplash.  They house 2 varieties of trail mix and a mixture of goldfish crackers.  The 3-tiered boxes have cookies/crackers on the bottom, snack & fiber bars in the middle and assorted snack items on top.  The counter space has greatly increased!

I hope to get some more cabinets finished this week, although none of them were as chaotic as this one!

I'm linking up today with:
A Bowl Full of Lemons: One Project at a Time Linky Party & House of Grace: Organize your Life

Yummy in my Tummy...

 Inspired by THIS POST that I saw via Pinterest, when my future hubby decided we should make a pizza for dinner, I suggested a calzone.  Now, this isn't the first time we'd made a calzone, but I really wanted to try this braided technique mainly because it looked neat.  What a pleasant surprise it was that it also cooked more evenly.

As we were braiding the dough

 We bought a $.44 packet of pizza dough mix from the Wal*Mart.  We then filled it with ground beef, mini turkey pepperoni, black olives, onions, red sauce & mozzarella.  Bake according to directions on the packet and you're done!

Two suggestions:

1. Place the dough on your pan before filling and braiding it.  It took two of us using 2 spatulas to slide it off the counter top onto the baking sheet

2. Bake it on your broiler ban or a crisper sheet.  The added air circulation helps crisp up the bottom of the calzone as well.

Since making our first braid last week we have made 2 more with different fillings.  Here are our suggestions and I'd love for you to comment and give me your ideas as well!

Chicken, ranch, grated parm cheese, red/yellow/orange bell peppers & onions (also shredded cheese if you desire)

The "Runza" knock off (you'd have to be from Nebraska to get this reference, but even if you're not I would suggest trying it!)  Brown ground turkey/beef with onion, black pepper & minced garlic; Drain any fat;  Add a bag of shredded cabbage to the top of the pan; cover & cook until it all wilts down.  Season with salt or season-all to taste.  Place mixture into calzone and top with shredded cheese or cheese slices.  Braid it up and bake.  One of my all time favorites!

I've also seen this done with pie crust & pie fillings, but I haven't tried that...YET!

And now for dessert...

Cracklin Oat Bran, Banana, SF Chocolate Puddin, RediWhip

 Layer in  a mug or bowl Cracklin Oat Bran (or crushed graham crackers), Sliced bananas, Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding (or any flavor of your choice), more Cracklin Oat Bran, more bananas and top with Redi Whip!  

Easy Peasy!

What is your favorite quick & easy dessert for that evening sugar fix?