(new) friends are expensive

In my last post, I introduced a book that I read called "MWF seeking BFF" and gave a couple key points that I took from the book. One of these points was that friend-making is expensive!

Think about it. When you first meet a friend, you're not sure what he/she likes, where they live, or anything too personal about them. (I'm not saying this is bad, I like the comfort that comes from knowing that my new friends have no idea where I live or how I like my eggs.) But, it means that it's more comfortable to meet new friends for dinner, movies, etc.

Now, one dinner, the occasional movie, not too expensive. But, when you are making an effort to go out with as many potential friends as possible, the expenses can really add up!

And when you're on a budget, spending a lot of money to go out with friends is not exactly an option.

MWF seeking BFF

 

Source: mwfseekingbff.com

I recently stumbled across this book, and the byline was so intriguing I had to read it! "My yearlong search for a new best friend" It seems to describe what I've been trying to do!

Since moving to Colorado, I've had a few stages of feelings about friendships. At first, I thought that I would keep all my Illinois friendships, and probably make a few friends here, and that would be good enough. After being here for a year or so, I began to realize that while keeping my friends in Illinois was definitely something I wanted, it wasn't the same as having friends to call for coffee or to see the latest chick flick.

The book talks about a lot of different things, and is really informative as well as entertaining. Two things in particular jumped out to me:

1. To make friends, you have to meet people.

2. Friend-making is expensive.

Let's try to make a list of things we can do with friends that are no/low cost!

milestone

Alex and I have officially paid off all of our debt.

This includes two cars and two student loans!

We're super pumped to be done with that step and moving on to the next step - pay down Alex's condo in Illinois so we can buy a house here!

meatballs for dinner

I made meatballs for dinner the other night, just kind of winged it after googling a few meatball recipes. Since I winged it, I don't have an exact recipe, but here's the gist:

1 lb ground beef (or pork)
1-2 tsp worstcheshire sauce
1-2 tsp soy sauce
1-2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup italian breadcrumbs

Mix all ingredients with your hands, form into balls, and bake for 25-30 min at 350 degrees, until the centers are no longer pink.

exploding laundry detergent

A couple months ago, we bought the jumbo economy size laundry detergent because we figured we'd use it all eventually and it would be much cheaper per load. Laundry detergent doesn't go bad, and it can just sit in the container forever, right?

Wrong. First, with a container of liquid as big as we had, of course someone knocks if off the shelf. So, the huge laundry detergent container was cracked and leaking. We cleaned it up, and put all the laundry detergent into two empty milk gallons.

We thought that would fix the problem...but a month or so later, we discovered that the laundry detergent had deteriorated the milk jugs and it was leaking everywhere!!

This is after I had cleaned up part of the mess, but you get the idea.

 Collapsed and empty milk jugs...we were trying to figure out what to do with all the detergent!

We rounded up every glass container we could find, and filled them all with detergent. (The cup in the front is plastic, so we need to use that up first! It was for the last little bit when we ran out of glass containers!)

 The moral of the story is...well I don't know. Maybe don't buy so much detergent? Or don't put a huge container of liquid on a high shelf? If you figure out the moral let me know. :)

christmas dinner

Menu:
-Pork loin in the crockpot
-Twice baked potatoes
-Corn
-Sourdough dinner rolls

orange sourdough rolls

I have a sourdough starter that my mom has used for as long as I can remember, and I use it to make bread, cinnamon rolls, and pancakes, all from her recipes.

Although I love regular cinnamon rolls, I decided to try orange rolls. Alex likes orange rolls from the store, so we gave it a shot.

Normally, to make the cinnamon rolls, I prepare the dough normally, roll it out flat, cover it in butter, cinnamon, and sugar, and then roll it up and cut it.

This time, I used butter, less cinnamon and sugar, and orange zest. (I also mixed a little bit of orange juice with the butter.) They turned out pretty good! Not the prettiest pan of orange rolls, but they tasted good!

penne rosa with parmesean crusted chicken

This recipe is one that I make quite a bit. (I even made if for my mom and sister on Christmas eve!) The sauce is a mix of tomato sauce and alfredo sauce, which gives it a little bit of both flavors. Since the chicken is coated in parmesean cheese, the pasta is also just the right amount of cheesy!

And, this recipe makes a lot of pasta sauce. I usually have enough for the recipe, and enough to fill two 16oz jars after that. The sauce freezes great, so I always just keep the afredo jars and plan on having extra sauce. 

Penne Rosa with Parmesean Crusted Chicken
Ingredients:
2 C parmesean cheese
1 16oz pkg penne
4 chicken breasts
3 egg whites, slightly beaten
2 (16oz) jars alfredo sauce
2 (14.5oz) cans italian diced tomatoes
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Place 2 cups parmesean cheese in a shallow bowl. Dip chicken in egg whites and then in parmesean cheese and place on baking sheet.
3. Bake chicken for about 18 minutes.
4. Heat alredo sauce, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and red pepper flakes.
5. Cook penne per instructions.
6. Serve all together with extra parmesean cheese.

         

cauliflower pizza crust

As an experiment, I made this cauliflower pizza crust. Doing P90x, we don't get to eat very many carbs, so pizza is kind of out. I stumbled across this cauliflower pizza crust recipe here, and it turned out great! We used plain tomato sauce and loaded our pizza up with ground beef and turkey bacon to get some more protein in. It's definitely a recipe I'd use again!

The only modification I made was to use half the cheese in the crust.

The (slightly) modified recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp kosher salt
olive oil (optional)
pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings*
Directions:
Remove stems and leaves from 1 head of cauliflower, and chop the florets into chunks. Grate the cauliflower. (You can also use a food processor) Place the “riced” cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes. No need to add water.
One large head will produce between 2 and 3 cups of riced and cooked cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.
To make the pizza crust:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, beaten egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, minced garlic and salt, mix well. Transfer the mixture to your cookie sheet, and pat out into a 9″ round.
Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool awhile. This helps to make the crust more solid.


To make the pizza:  add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes). 
*Toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.

christmas goodies

This year for Christmas, I made a bunch of cookies and goodies to include with everyone's Christmas present.

I spent a whole weekend baking and made:

-Mint Chocolate Chip cookies
-Peanut Butter cookies
-Funfettii cookies
-Salted Caramels
-Peppermint Bark
-Honey Oatmeal Sourdough bread

thanksgiving meal

I know this is quite awhile back now, but as promised, here is the picture of our Thanksgiving meal.

Remember, we are doing P90x and had to structure our meal around what we could eat.

We made:

-ham in the crockpot (counted as a protein)
-twice baked potato (counted as a carb and a dairy)
-green beans (counted as a veggie)

We also had TONS of leftover ham, which we went through pretty fast due to the amount of protein we're eating!

christmas eve traditions

Last year, Alex and I started one of our own Christmas Eve traditions. One of the newspapers in Denver posts a list of houses that have spectacular Christmas light displays online, so Alex and I printed the list, made hot chocolate, and went to see some pretty lights.

We continued that tradition this year when my mom and sister came to visit for Christmas. Their flight landed on Christmas Eve, so we came home and had dinner, made hot chocolate, and headed out. We got to see three houses before we decided it was too snowy to continue! It was still so much fun though!