Man Pretty

Me like Kyle. Kyle pretty. Omnomnomnomnom nom nom.

Apparently complete sentences fail me today.

love, elizabeth

The Tuxedo of Spaghettis

I call this Tuxedo Spaghetti because it’s so fancy you need to put on a tuxedo to eat it.

….

Not really. But this spaghetti sauce is a healthy, veggie-rich crowd pleaser and super easy!

I realize Italian grandmas everywhere are throwing up their hands in horror but I like to start with an inexpensive can of           pre-made spaghetti sauce as a base. You can think of this recipe as putting a tuxedo on a $1.04 can of sauce.

I like to go crazy with the vegetables. You can put almost anything in a pasta sauce and this time I added mushrooms, red bell pepper, yellow onion, zucchini, and tomatoes. (You can also try eggplant, carrots, squash, asparagus, and other peppers.) I have a finicky husband so I chopped the zucchini super fine and he swears he didn’t even taste it so if you’re feeding non-veggie-lovers you can sneak extra vitamins and nutrients in easily.

I’m a garlic fiend so I diced up four cloves but you can edit this to taste. If you’re feeling EXTRA adventurous, you can stir in a few tablespoons of an inexpensive table wine, too.

I stirred all the veggies together with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and stir-fried until tender. TIP: I kept the tomatoes separate and added them right before serving for a less stew-like texture.

I added two cans of sauce to make what Kyle likes to call “a vat of spaghetti.” He could seriously eat this for the next three or four meals and be totally happy. It’s his favorite kind of leftovers and it also freezes well (although some vegetables hold up better than others at subzero). If you’re feeding carnivores, you can add browned ground beef, chicken, or meatballs to this recipe. TIP: For the extra health-conscious, switch to a whole-grain pasta for extra fiber and watch the portion sizes. I overdid it a tad here.

Serve with a mozzarella or parmesan garnish and a little black dress wine and presto, digito, minuto, delicios-o, you’ve made Tuxedo Spaghetti.

Lol. All the actual blog cooks who are reading this: “So…you added some vegetables to your sauce and heated it up. It’s a freaking spaghetti revolution in here.”

Do you have a dressed-up version of a simple recipe?

love, elizabeth

moh-tuh-vey-shuhn, noun, from the medieval latin mōtīvus

Uhhh, you know how bloggers, lots of bloggers, get into a rhythm and a schedule? Like they post every day and they plan ahead and work it all out? This is not one of those posts. I just needed someone to talk to.

I am really flagging when it comes to my personal motivation lately. I have a reading list the size of Mars and the end of summer is looming ALREADY and I can’t summon the energy to clean the apartment or empty my inbox or study or ANYTHING. I want to be successful, I want to buckle down and get stuff done. But right now I feel like I’m just watching the calendar pages floating away like they do on old Saturday morning cartoons and I just want to stop the clock for another five or six weeks. WHEW.

I just needed to get that out there into the universe. This weekend, I plan to clean the apartment until it squeaks. And then maybe that reading list will seem more manageable somehow. I just can’t think inside the mess.

Alright. Make me feel better. What helps you get re-motivated when you’re in a slump?

love, elizabeth

My Second Family

When God gives you one amazing family, you are astounded by the gift. When God gives you two amazing families…there aren’t even words for that.

I got to spend the Fourth of July with some of Kyle’s family and as homesick as it made me for him back in Ohio, it was one of the most peaceful, beautiful days I’ve had in a long time.

My niece Dalyla. She’s almost two.

My niece Shayanne showing us her cartwheels.

Kyle’s little brother Aaron with his daughter Dalyla.

Kyle’s mom, Linda and Kyle’s sister Cheyenne with her daughter Shay. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did you spend your Fourth of July?

love, elizabeth

John Denver Was Right

I think these kind of speak for themselves but OMG, you guys, I miss the Rockies already.

love, elizabeth

If You Really Knew Me, At All

My childhood best friend, Jenni, did a post like this when she was inspired by her friend Kristin and you all know how I like a good bandwagon so…here I am, hopping aboard.

If you knew me really well, you’d know that…

I’m a total clothes-horse.  Like straight up addict.

But I’m also a thrift-store junkie. So that helps. (Or at least, this is what I tell my husband when he looks at my closet.)

I am really critical of my own appearance. I have had a hard time accepting my body or my shape or my face. I want to believe good things about the person I’ve been created to be but I struggle. A lot.

I worry about everything. In fact, the times that I DON’T worry are of such great significance that I usually celebrate them and promptly spiral into a new round of worry about why I’m not worried and about what I must be forgetting to remember to worry about.

I am a lover of God. My faith-walk can be shaky sometimes but my belief in Him never is. God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

I put ketchup on almost everything. It’s a running joke in my family.

I wish I was braver. Or tougher. Or some combination of the two.

I have been known to dumpster dive for furniture. Although, there has been no actual Diving Into a Dumpster. It’s more like Diving NEXT to a Dumpster. In fact, except for an armchair and our sofa, nothing in the house was purchased new. And if our apartment looks more like a flea market than the inside of a magazine, I guess that’s okay.

I love to go to the movies. It’s the luxury I most enjoy. I look forward to the trailers almost as much as the actual film.

Sometimes on long car trips, I pretend I’m in a music video. … Shut up. Don’t look at me with that tone of voice.

When I don’t want to do something, I imagine how I could possibly write a blog post on the topic and it makes it easier. Blogging has forced me to try new things so that this blog doesn’t get stale. That feels like a life metaphor but I’ll let someone else connect those dots. If you know…they want to.

I would do literally anything for my friends. I think loyalty is more important than neutrality and that has cost me relationships. And I don’t care. I’d rather stand up for one friend than have a hundred thousand more.

I love to spend time with other people but the second I’m alone, I obsess over the interactions we had. Was I annoying? Did I talk too much? Did that person feel cared about? I think this makes me a good friend and conversationalist but I don’t trust myself and I don’t let down my guard very easily. I almost always feel like a burden to others.

I cannot wait to be a parent. But I have to wait. And that’s hard, too.

I want to be a tidy, organized person. But I am often messy and scattered.

Sometimes when I get Kyle’s voicemail, I sing songs that I made up on the spot. I think he likes it.

Your turn. I’d love to know more about you!

love, elizabeth

Breakfast in Leadville

My mom is much more of a breakfast person than I am. But if breakfast was exactly like this every morning…I’d never miss it.

That’s veggie eggs benedict, by the way. And it tasted like heaven.

What’s your favorite way to spend breakfast?

love, elizabeth