Taste Bud-Tantalizing Lasagna Soup

After days of frozen meats, vegetables and instant mashed potatoes, I decided to cook myself a decent homemade meal that require more steps than hitting "start" on the microwave. 

Time to use this oldie but a goodie:

My vintage stove has grown on me. We started off in a love-hate relationship after several failed attempts at making banana bread.  FYI- banana bread looks like an inverted mess when the oven decides to cut off midway through baking and you don't realize until the timer dings! Did I eat the "inverted mess" you ask? You bet your sweet ass I did!  But my love affair grows as she becomes more and more reliable.

After searching, you guessed it,  Pinterest ...I found this mouth-watering recipe:
                                  Bobby's Lighter Tastes Like Lasagna Soup

Source:
http://thedeenbros.com/index.php/recipes/recipe_detail/bobbys_lighter_tastes_like_lasagna_soup/

It has all the delicious contents of a lasagna without the ricotta cheese, which is fine with me.  So I gathered my cooking "friends" and got started.

It never seems right to have your vegetables touching raw meat... is that what she said?

 

                                                           Nailed it!

I realized two things during this recipe adventure. (1) I need more friends, and (2) if you want to sound lame, you mention your love affair with your stove.

Online Dating

I must digress away from crafting to make a comment about online dating.  Since being single, I have gone on numerous dates via Match.com or OkCupid.com. I've been lucky enough not to have horrible experiences, but I wanted to point out what I have to work with here! It's like wanting to paint a magnificent piece of artwork when all you have is crayons...

Dating website serves a multitude of purposes, but I use them for one purpose...to find a great man. Beside..."1 in 5 relationships start online". However, it appears that others are using these websites as a platform to demonstrate their comedic talents, their extreme dorky-ness, or their douchbaggery. 

For instance, let's take a look at Subject A.

At first, I thought this was funny...but after seeing his second and last picture...I decided to move on.

Besides, his profile has comments like "I'm really good at feeling and comprehension with women and hoopta hooping" and "the one thing people usually notice about me is the cm birthmark on my butt" (what no picture?).  He also mentioned his favorite thing to do on Friday nights is "pretending".  I wish this man luck in his quest to find someone of equal ridiculousness...

Let's look at Subject B shall we?!

I am appalled. I mean, can you even find jeans in that color anymore?  I don't know if I can get over the fact this man has posted a picture of the best monkey knuckles I've ever seen, or the fabulous way he described fried okra.  Needless to say, I hit "skip".

Now for Subject C. Gurd your loins people...you're in for a treat.

If after reading the first few lines doesn't make you want to hire a Urologist and drive over to this guy’s house to perform a forced vasectomy (the non-reversible kind), keep reading...

I've lost my appetite. Seriously, if by some random act of God  I accidently went on a date with this douchbag...no, that would imply cleanliness...this scum-sucking pig (kudos to you if you got that reference), I would have ended up in jail. 

Ok, done ranting... now back to crafting. 

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Thanks to Pinterest, my love of collecting recipes can now be stored on one giant website.  As my collection grows, so does my hunger. So I decided to give this tasty number a try. Check out the orginial recipe at:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/04/crock-pot-buffalo-chicken-lettuce-wraps.html#more

 Nailed it!

It was delicious and cheap to make. I had leftovers for days!

Father's Day Gift

So Pinterest is my new favorite idea generator! My newest project for Father's Day is below. These lovely labels can be found on http://www.marthastewart.com/272480/retro-fathers-day-clip-art-labels.

So I decided to make my own pickled items with this idea in mind. My Dad will love this! I decided to make garlic dill pickles, Slap Ya Mama pickles, and pickled onions. An experience I have never attempted.  I mean, it can't be that hard to pickle things....right?  Below is the finished product.  I am very proud of myself...now here is hoping they taste good.   

I packaged them and shipped them on their way...only realizing today that I forgot to add salt to my garlic pickles! Oops...

Wall Covered in Pictures

 Who doesn't want a plethora of pictures on their wall? If anything, it's a great conversational piece! I saw the picture below and had to make it happen. I had plenty of old pictues laying around and decided to hang them up.  I ended up buying a few pieces off of Etsy (shh...my other obsession) and only spent $9 for the entire project.  That's my kind of savings!

The inspiration

The Process

I laid out all the pictures on the floor in front of the wall so I could see how it would look in this position.  I ended up using a bunch of old pictures and making one with stencil and purple paint.



                                                                   Nailed It!



Preso! There you have it. It was so easy!