Fanciful & Free

Sort of Loving The Rosebud’s Christmas album

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 23:34:33 -0500

Sort of Loving The Rosebud’s Christmas album

Audio

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 23:04:22 -0500

Audio

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:40:24 -0500

96: Banana Blueberry Muffins & Fig Brownies (GF/PF)

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:30:00 -0500

So. Much. Baking! Don’t worry, my busy bodied friends! These are a cinch to make and well worth the very little effort. I made each batch one after the other in about an hour and because they are made with almond/ coconut flour the actual bake time is short. Also, they’re gluten free and paleo friendly (if that matters to anyone).

Fig Brownie Balls (Recipe Here)

1½ cup dried figs (any stems removed)
⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
6 tablespoons coconut flour
3 eggs, whisked
½ cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, melted
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

Banana Blueberry Muffins (Recipe here):

3/4 cup ripe banana (about 1 and 1/2 ripe bananas)
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup blueberries

This would have been plenty of treats for our road trip south this week; however, I gave a eight of them to our neighbors and saved a couple for my family. They were gone shortly after the first driving portion of our vacation. Oh well, better luck eating “healthy” round trip next time.

97: Pumpkin Nut Honey Chocolate Chip Cookies

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 16:43:50 -0500

It’s that time of year again. Thanksgiving road trip! Matthew and I have agreed that we are going to try to eat gluten free most of the week but accept the food we’re given on Thanksgiving proper (in moderation). My mother is southern and southern women don’t take kindly to people rejecting their delicious food (and I kind of just want to enjoy myself even at the cost of a bellyache)! My sisters house is about 16+ hours away from where we live in Providence, RI and we don’t want to feast on McDonalds and Red Bull the whole way. That’s why tonight I started to make a series of road trip snacks for us!

You guys, these cookies are so great. They are the sweetest thing I’ve had in a really long while… but they are not too sweet (which is why The Girl Who Went Paleo calls them breakfast cookies)! Matt even liked them a great deal and he is not too fond of sweets. With ingredients that include pumpkin, honey, nuts, vanilla, almond butter, and chocolate chips… what’s not to love?!

One snack down, three more to go!

Ingredients: (For The Full Recipe Click Here!)
Makes 10-12 large cookies
1/4cup canned pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie mix in a can)
1/2cup almond butter (or any nut butter you prefer)
1/2 cup honey
1tsp vanilla
1cup almond meal/flour
1tsp pumpkin pie spice or 1tsp ground cinnamon
1/4tsp baking soda
1/2cup dark chocolate chips, or any dried fruit would be wonderful
1/2cup walnuts, or pecans, or whatever you’d like

98: PAELLA: Chorizo, Chicken, Clams, Mussels, Lime...Oh My!

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:41:45 -0500

Around this time last year, I was in Spain eating all the paella and croquetas I could get my hands on. This year, I am in Providence, Rhode Island attempting to eat gluten free and paleo friendly in hopes that my insides, and the insides of my significant other, will feel better after eating. Guess what?! That’s not going to stop me from eating paella! I found this killer recipe for paella online that is easy to make and guilt free. You guys, this is probably one of my favorite meals I’ve tried my hand at in the last year. It’s that good. I might have to make this for everyone always. Anyways, the recipe called for clams and mussels. I’ve cooked shrimp and lobster but that’s pretty much the extent of my shellfish cooking experience. It was super easy! I steamed them in broth until they opened right up and then tucked them in to the rest of my ingredients. For rice, I used cauliflower grated in a food processor. Aside from the mussels, clams and cauliflower, the recipe included chorizo sausage, chicken, onions, shrimp, chicken broth, clam stock, lemon (I used lime, it was great), and a whole lot of spices!

99: Autumn Romps With The Family

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 10:00:01 -0500

Today, Matthew and I decided to take Opie out for a long romp in the woods and on the beach. It was “colder than a witches booby in Alaska!” (as my mother would say) in the shade of the tall pine trees. We made the best of it. We played in leaves and let Buggy run around off leash over boulders, through the woods and along the water. Opie really loves Autumn, you guys. As Matthew would kick up huge piles of leaves, Opie would literally frolic beneath them as they fell. Heart melt!

Opie on the beach!

Opie in the foam?

Trees & Sunshine!

No one in sight!

Bare branches!

Lookin’ sexy and pasty while rolling in leaves, as per usual. I love that every pic of me now features Opie’s dog hair on my clothing. C’est la vie! Matthew refused to play in the leaves for fear of what the leaves covered (poop, snakes, etc.). I did it because, well, i’m clearly a bad-ass. It was awesome.

Bug and leaves!

Courtesy butt shot!

Bug, Matt and boulder.

Little fur baby!

Is there any better season anywhere than fall in New England? (OK, Spring in the alps? Winter in Norway? OK, I know. Fall in New England has some serious competition. It’s wonderful, though!)

100: Waiting For Forever

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:00:00 -0500

I had a bunch of new things I wanted to talk about today, but Matthew says I’m not allowed to. Let’s just say we saw a really terrible movie in theater, went to Home Goods and then maybe watched another terrible holiday movie on Lifetime!

Instead, I’ll just post another movie (I watch a lot of movies, you guys!) that I saw today called Waiting For Forever. Waiting For Forever is a film about a street performer that follows (stalks?) his childhood best friend who he is still in love with unbeknownst to her.It certainly was a different kind of independent romantic comedy. I’ll give it that much. Although, the soundtrack was really good. Swoon worthy, I’d say. So much so that I edited my Spotify account and listened to it twice before bed. Check the movie out on Netflix, if you feel like it! How am I feeling? I’m feeling preeeetttty hormonal today. I’m going to go make Matthew give me hugs and snuggle with our dog.

Happy Saturday!

101: A Very Furry Holiday Come Early

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Matthew, Opie and I are going on vacation to South Carolina next week and, unfortunately, can’t bring sweet Amelie! Amelie would hate her life what with the sixteen hour drive there, three dogs, infant, eight adults, and sixteen hour drive back! Also, I don’t know if she would be too pleased with having to stay anywhere but home (she’s a reserved cat). So, if we can’t find a person to kitty sit, we are leaving her home with Animal Planet and having our awesome landlord (who lives above us) check in on her over the course of four days. Feeling pet owner guilt, we thought we would give our animals a little taste of the holidays early this year. We bought Amelie a brand new collar and tag (i’m super neurotic about her getting out while we’re away), a cat scratch post and toys to play with. Opie also got a new tag, harness, bones and toys which he already destroyed. The fur babies are quite content right now!

103: Orange Chicken!

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:00:09 -0500

It was Matthew’s turn to make dinner again tonight! Chef Matthew decided to go with a paleo friendly, gluten free orange chicken! It was really good. We both agreed we would change the recipe slightly to make it more citrusy and less soy sauce filled as Matthew thought it was a bit on the salty side. I really enjoyed dinner, though. The portion sizes were pretty great for two people!

Recipe (full recipe here!):

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (cut into bite size pieces)
3 T fat (coconut oil works well here)
juice of 2 oranges*
zest from 1 orange
1 t fresh ginger
3 T coconut aminos or wheat-free soy sauce
1 t chili garlic sauce or sriracha
3 green onions, chopped

102: Curry Beef Stew

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:00:22 -0500

I liked the result of this very basic recipe. It was practically zero effort and not a whole lot of ingredients. Matthew really liked the result of it. If you put curry in anything (we put curry in a whole lot of things), it’s pretty much a given that Matthew will love it. I must admit, it did feel really lovely and good for warming your insides on a brisk autumn day.

There’s not much to it. Combine ingredients and let it sit in your slow cooker!

Recipe (click here for the full recipe):

1 pound lean stew meat, cut into bite size pieces
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 small sweet onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Kosher or sea salt to taste
1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro
1 3/4 cups beef broth or stock, low-sodium
1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1 tablespoon water, optional

104: New Sander!

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 19:53:07 -0500

I love my new sander. Today, I used it for the first time… while sanding furniture. This is very exciting. Now if only I could settle on a paint color… -

The finalists: Mustard, Turquoise, or slate grey.

This thing was a mess before I started sanding it. Now, it’s starting to resemble what I imagine to be a pretty nice little piece of furniture.

105-106: Relationship Rage/ Compromise & Life in MA!

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 00:00:01 -0500

(Thanks for the image of Ball Square, Google!)

I’m learning how not to be a total control freak crazy pants and just let myself be on the roller coaster that is dealing with other people and their scheduling issues. In this case, Matthew. I love him. To me, he is the most incredible significant other in the world. A diamond in the rough, I hear. That being said, he’s a man and all men can give a girl what I like to call Relationship Rage! For example, when I was younger I probably would have flown off the handle if my Sunday plans that I had all week had somehow turned in to a BROCATION where Matthew and his dude friends want to watch sports and play n3rd cards (Magic) all day instead of hanging out with me. Instead, I sucked it up and did what any awesome girlfriend would do. I filled the rest of the weekend with activities Matthew would feel obligated to join in since he cancelled my previous plans. It was win/ win for him, though! He had fun doing all the things.

The night of his indiscretion (football, dudes & Magic), Matthew and I had drinks with Lizzie & Dan at Bukowskis (I like this place a great deal) before leaving to watch Workaholics while getting subtly wild at their place. There was a good four minute dance party sprinkled in to the night somewhere. It was nice. Sometimes a girl just needs a four minute dance party to feel OK again.The next morning, I had coffee chats with Lizzie and then Matthew & I took Bug to Billy’s to have a doggie day in Somerville! Billy made lentil soup for us (delicious), took us to this super fancy dog park where we learned that our dogs would be amazing at agility competitions, and gave us a tour of Somerville. I even found a new area that I am very interested in living in called Ball Square. This is exciting business, you guys. Ball Square in Somerville has a bakery, cafe, wine & liquor store, used book store, deli, bar, salon and four brunch restaurants. I effin’ love brunch, wine, books and bars. Also, having a bakery down the street from you is amazing. I feel like Ball Square is a good Davis Square/ Inman Square/ Union Square compromise. Plus, it’s walking distance to all these places anyways. I enjoyed myself on Billy’s tour quite a bit. It was just a nice reminder of what life could be like if we lived closer again. We could have bar trips, dance parties, and doggie days all the time! Oh, and brunch in Ball Square!

I realize that Relationship Rage happens… but sometimes you just have to give a little to get a little and everyone ends up the happiest. We would not have had so much fun had he and his friends (Hi Jeff & Paul) not ditched out on me during the day. Also, this weekend was another reminder that we have to start saving up and purging more garbage from our house because moving day is not that far away. We have to tell our landlord in February and start physically meeting with realtors in March! Adventure! Excitement! Overwhelmed!

108: Hidden Palms

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:00:12 -0500

I love to hate CW shows. This one mostly inflicts a hate. I watched it via skype with my boyfriend’s sister and my friend, Rachel! That was fun. We had the opportunity to hate it together at the same time. Technology!

106: The Family Tree

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:00:12 -0500

Tags That Describe The Family Tree:

#affairs, amnesia murders, teen angst, sex, sexual confusion, teen sex, parent sex, neighbor sex, parent/neighbor sex, teen/ teacher sex, drugs, guns, scary Christians, bullies, friendship, enemies, family, trust funds, blow jobs….

eh, I’ll let you figure out the rest. It’s on Netflix.

107: Undeclared

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Undeclared is pretty awesome-ish. It employs a lot of the same cast as Freaks and Geeks. That alone makes it good(ish). Aside from that, MEH. Matthew and I will keep watching and let you know.

110: Chain Letter

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 11:00:30 -0500

It took Matthew and I four days to watch this movie. He kept falling asleep every fifteen minutes and I have the attention span of a peanut. Love the flip phones, though! Classic.

111: Clean White

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 10:00:23 -0500

I’ve been spray painting everything white in an attempt to make my apartment appear cleaner than it actually is.

109: Mirror Mirror

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 10:00:23 -0500

It’s what you would expect it to be.

You are so strong. And So Brave. I'm So Proud Of You.

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:43:00 -0500

Calming Manatees and I want you to know you’re doing a great job right now.