Simple (Guilty) Pleasure #12

These things. Seriously, please someone get them away from me. Or maybe bring me some real food. This should be in a new series called “Seriously Guilty Pleasures…God I Just Hate Myself Right Now…Why Can’t I Stop Eating These…”.

What is really ironic is that I have been really sick lately and it is due to either (or both) stomach ulcers and a bum gallbladder (I’ll let you know after a pending ultrasound and endoscopy what it ends up being). And here I am, eating Cheese Balls. HA! Okay, no I’m not anymore; I stopped, I swear. What a good idea that was, though! Wow!’

Well anyway, let’s be honest guys, these things are freaking addictive, right? Why are they so good? And why such a big-ass enabling container? It just doesn’t seem fair; not for my health at least, or anyone else’s. These Cheese Balls are crazy.

–

Love,

Daniosaur

Simple Pleasure #9

Dandelions

I’m sure each and every one of us, as children, loved picking up those stupid dandelions, blowing on them, and watching all of the tiny little cotton-white fuzzies float through the air.  Some “grown-up” probably told you that if you did this, these weeds would sprout up every where. Hell, you didn’t see the problem with that.  The more the merrier!  Why do you care?  You’re going to pick those ones too, soon as they turn white, and repeat.

And then, you got older.  Now you’re the one telling the kids not to spread weeds on your lawn.  But, who likes worrying about weeds?  I say dandelions can be a treat.  Stop worrying so damn much about everything! You know you want to pick those cottony white flowers, give a good puff of air, and watch blissfully as they float off into the sky, or at least off the ground for a few minutes.  You can even make a wish.

Personally, I always thought the magic was in the fact that they were yellow and kind of cute one day, and the next they were snow white and globe-shaped.  I think it took a while for me to figure out they were even the same thing.

And here is some advice for after you go crazy and let the yellow dandelions grow everywhere:

Make dandelion wine.  Or salad.  Wine is probably more fun.  But seriously, did you know these things were edible?  We should seriously stop wasting them, spraying poison on them, and ripping them out of the ground.  Why are we such bastards to nature?  At least use them for something if you’re going to tear them out of the ground every time they appear.

I recommend the book “Making Stuff and Doing Things” by Kyle Bravo and Jenny LeBlanc for a good sounding Dandelion Wine recipe.  I haven’t gotten a chance to put it to use yet, (Let me know if you have like a million dandelions I can have and I totally will) but the book itself has some really cool stuff in it so I trust that the recipe is good too (and will try to post it once I find my book AND when I make the wine, I will definitely write about how it turns out).  It’s a little late in the season, but if you keep it in mind, I will too. ;D

I hope everyone has a great week!

–

Dani(elle)

Things Worth Trying At Least Once #8

Well, after fasting since last night, and then having to wait until the technicians were back from lunch at the lab before they could take my blood (getting bloodwork done for all kinds of stuff my doctor is testing me for…woohoo), I figured that it would be a good idea to get some food and drink.  Anywho, on that note, I think something worth trying is definitely;

Tortilla Pizzas!

A fantastically quick and delicious snack only calling for three cheap ingredients, pizza sauce, or any type of tomato sauce, cheese, I used Italian blend, and soft taco shells/tortillas.  The best way to cook the mini pizzas is to take a pan with a lid, put it on the stove top on medium-low with the lid on, and let it heat up before you put the pizzas in.  Then replace the lid and let cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the shell is crispy and the cheese is melted.  And like I said, they are very tasty, and easy.  “]

Mine personally would’ve been even more enjoyable without Ludwig sitting at my feet panting and begging.  Oh well.  Enjoy! ;]

–

Dani

Simple Pleasure #5

Fresh Fruit

Apples, oranges, bananas, watermelon, peaches, grapes, kiwi, pears, lemons, limes, nectarines, mandarins, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, fresh, delicious, sweet, healthy, fantastic, fruit.

It’s amazing, and I can’t get enough of it.

–

Dani <3

PS. That apple was tasty. “]

Things Worth Trying At Least Once #4

PEACE TEA

Quite honestly, it’s my favorite tea in a can.  Call me crazy if you want but I like it as much as Arizona.  Best flavors: Lemon or especially Razzleberry.  Price: .99 cents always.  Seriously, this stuff is delicious and totally worth trying.  Plus, I always like helping out the little guy.

I am totally on a Razzleberry binge right now, I’m hooked.

–

Dani “]

Simple Pleasure #3

A little late in the day, but nonetheless…

Picnics

Whether spontaneous or planned, traditional or picking up fast food and heading to the park, going to the park/beach or spreading out a blanket in your front yard on a pretty day, picnics are fantastic.  Personally, I try to keep a good picnic blanket in the car at all times, just in case. “]  I see no reason to ever eat indoors and waste the beautiful weather, not every day can be sunny and nice.

One of my favorite days was picking up some food from Burger King (I love their veggie burgers!), grabbing the blanket, and heading to the park with Matthew to sit down and eat.  Afterward we played on the playground, which was a total plus.  And this was in January, which proves that picnic weather can appear at any time and should be taken advantage of.

I think it’s really important to remember that the simplest things that we can do, like taking our lunch outside and spending time with each other, are the things that can be most filled with joy.  How can we stand to forget how much fun picnics can be?

And, how much fun food is. “]

Picnics win.

Delicious

Made dinner for Matthew and I tonight, Cheese Manicotti (which I totally cheated on), mashed potatoes, and sweet yellow corn, as well as a fresh fruit salad for desert with some lite Cool Whip…

With -Strawberries for Calcium, vitamins A, B-12, B-6, and E among other things, -Blueberries for vitamin C, Calcium, Potassium, and cleansing antioxidants among other things plus -Oranges vitamin C and even more delicious nutrients and one of my favorites, -Kiwi with more calcium, potassium, and vitamin C . I love fruit. Even added a little grape juice.

Delicious…

And amazing…

in so many ways.

Cool Whip is pretty bitchin’ too. “]

–

Dani

Sunday Stumbles

Mm, the art of StumbleUpon.  SU is definitely one of the most addicting tools on the internet today.  I would like to take the time to share the best of my early stumbles for this Sunday morning.

First favorite stumble of the day: foodgawker

This site is deliciously appealing.  They seem to have taken one of the most delicious items from each of their listed recipe sites and featured them.  I am convinced that I must make my own homemade raspberry ice cream, as well as blueberry ice cream pie, and maybe some pizza puffs? Okay, now I’m starving. Like I said, the site is worth a look, especially if you are looking for some new recipes or even some new recipe sites for reference.

Next stumble for the morning: Kaboodle “Owl decor”

You may or may not have heard of the shopping site kaboodle.com …really, I’m sure you have.  I ” stumbled upon” some adorable owl merch and recommend you check out the slide show as well, vases, towels, dishes, purses….  Owls are freaking cute.

Number three on the stumblings: Drawings of Leo Da’Vinci

This one is pretty self-explanatory.  Enjoying the sketches from the brilliant mind of Leonardo, clearly a good stumble.  It’s amazing, and a little terrifying, seeing these works that are obviously advanced concepts and theories and not just doodles in an old notepad.  Beautiful, dark, and brilliant.

And lastly, and I’m stopping here mostly because my Goddaughter will be dropped off soon and I need to be babysitting…

Fourth and Final Stumble for the morning: Price Tag Fails

Slightlywarped.com’s “Curiosities: Price Tag Fails”… this one is just funny, and who doesn’t need something to smile about?  Besides, I need to give you some kind of balance here and clearly SU was much too serious this morning up until this point. Recipes and cute animal homeware? Leonardo? Very nice but not in the same way as this last one. Enjoy.

Oh, and you should probably do your own Stumbling too. I mean, I can tell you about some of the sweet stuff that I find… but, you could probably just go on and find even more rad stuff all by your lonesome by clicking right here. Enjoy your Sunday everyone! Maybe you’ll hear more from me later!

–

Dani