Hello people, and welcome to 2013. I hope none of you were banking on the Mayan calendar and spent all your money before Christmas.
I got hired on at Wells Fargo in the beginning of December, so you are looking at a full-time employee right now! No more food service for this girl–although honestly, my first managers taught me how to be the best worker out there, and I am super grateful for the work ethic that I learned when I was young. It’s hard to find these days.
So, Pinterest has taken over my life. And for the better, I’d like to think! This weekend has been dedicated to trying new things from the website, which I’m sure I will share with you later. But in the meantime, here are some of the recipes and products that have worked for me:
Homemade Febreze: Honestly, I just finished a bottle of Febreze this week, and tried this gem of a concoction…and it seriously smells just as good as the $5-$7 bottles people buy at the store. 1/8 c fabric softener, 2 TBSP baking soda, fill the bottle with hot water and shake it up. Genius.
Spicy Chicken Rigatoni:
Full recipe here. I am a HUGE pasta lover. I mean, I’ve probably tried about every pasta out there, and honestly, the peas mixed in is what really did it for me. True story. It’s not that spicy–I added a little more red pepper at the end. So good.
Mini Breakfast Treats: I have a mini muffin tin that fits 12, and these were the first things I made in it. I whisked together 4 eggs and a handful of shredded cheese, then grabbed 6 strips of bacon and split them in half. Circle the halves of bacon to outline each cupcake setting and then pour in the egg/cheese mixture, about 3/4 of the way full. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Don’t forget to spray cooking oil on the tin–that way the treats just pop right out. It’s amazing what people think of, and they’re so cute and little!
Organizing Tank Tops: This. This right here, people. I have so many clothes and not-so-much drawer space. Brilliant.
Ranch Pork Chops: I’ve been trying to branch out of my chicken and beef eating, but found it hard to get a pork recipe that isn’t too dry. This doesn’t come with a full recipe so here is what I did: Thaw 4 pork chops. Pour about a cup of ranch into a bowl. Get one packet of dry Italian seasoning and mix with bread crumbs (I used 2 slices of bread and crumbled them up) and about a TSP of garlic salt and parmesan, mix into separate bowl. Dip thawed chops into ranch, then roll into crumb mixture. Cook at 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes. Pretty good, for pork that isn’t bacon.
Easy weeknight meal for 4 (or 2, if the person eating with you is a 240-lb male who apparently does not eat all day):
I didn’t use as much butter as shown in the photo…just use a thin layer of vegetable oil on the bottom of the pan and maybe half a stick of butter cut thinly over the top so the food doesn’t burn. It helps if you cover it with foil.
No more dryer sheets: Plus, my apartment smells so fresh and clean. Coming from OCD over here, this is where it’s at.
Pizza Bread: I cooked this on a snow day this year, because I didn’t want to turn up my heat so I used the oven 
French bread, pizza sauce, italian sausage, mushrooms, black olives and mozzarella cheese on top. Cook for about 8 minutes, until the cheese is all melted. Obviously you can use whatever toppings you want. Easy-peasy.
Re-boot your towels: After awhile, my towels started smelling funky and I was like “Uhhh, this is NOT how I smell when I get out of the shower,” because obviously I wash my towels about as much as I wash my clothes. This works for refreshing them so they can do their job. Do it.
Baking Bacon! I don’t know why I did not think of this or hear about this before…I cook about 8 strips of bacon every other week because I have those healthier turkey/bacon wraps (see below) for lunch at my desk. I absolutely HATE cooking bacon on the stove. I’m always getting splattered with the grease-awfulness. This is perfect. Then I just let cool and split into bite-sized pieces and put it in a container=bacon for the next 2 weeks.
Turkey/bacon Wraps: Start with a wrap (I use La Tortilla Factory’s Smart & Delicious Soft Wraps). Put about a TBSP of Ranch on it (more or less depending on what you like…I’m not a huge Ranch person so that’s a perfect amount for me), spread it around the wrap. Add turkey, bacon pieces, lettuce, tomato and anything else you want. I eat these at least 3 days a week. Cheap and healthy and really quick.
Kitchen/bathroom floor cleaner: I’ve been doing versions of this since I was little because, well, my mother and I are weird about cleaning. If you’re like me and don’t like the vinegar smell leftover, I finish off with a dab of Pine-Sol on a rag and wipe everything down. For the clean freak in you.
Baked carrot fries: These are a super yummy treat, especially if you don’t get enough veggies in your diet.
Homemade Vick’s Shower Disks: I am almost constantly congested around this time of year, especially when the weather starts messing with me–warmer one day, back to freezing the next. This is a miracle. Make sure you use muffin liners; nobody wants lavender-tasting cupcakes/muffins later; oil doesn’t wash off as well!
There you are. I’m posting some of these for me to use again later because I love them *that* much, plus to be honest my Pinterest boards are getting ridiculously large. Feel free to use these and let me know what you think!
