Married Life Begins

Someone gave us a book of Crockpot recipes, and I was elated, because they all looked so delicious, and easy to make! I tried this taco soup one.

But we slept in so we didn’t have time to put it together in the morning. So I came home from work and put it together, even though we’d have to wait for 4 hours. We gave in and snacked just a bit. Then when the soup was done, we weren’t hungry. No problem. We decided we’d eat it the next day instead.

The next day was Pioneer Day, and Sam’s parents through a last-minute little get-together. So we ate with them, and saved the soup for another day.

Finally, on Wednesday, we at the soup. It was good, except we hadn’t let it warm up enough in the crockpot, so it was kind of cold. We put it back on, so by our second helpings, it would be warm. But Sam and I are skinny people, and we got full and decided we didn’t want a second helping. We would just save the soup and eat it for leftovers the next few days.

But although we unplugged the crockpot, we neglected to put it in the fridge. Facepalm. So a day later, we realize my crockpot is just sitting there, full of soup. Fail.

And our fridge really doesn’t have that much in it. There’s plenty of room for a crockpot. We’re just forgetful and inexperienced at feeding ourselves. As if I haven’t lived on my own for the past three years. I feel foolish.

One good thing is only being having to share my brownies with only one other person. Yumm...





This is our first meal at home as a married couple! Mac n' cheese. It was homemade, and let me tell you Sam makes a mean mac n' cheese. And see that bouquet at the table? It's mine. Proof that we did get married, honeymoon, and return home. Eventually I'll post more pictures and tell the story. All in due time, folks.

-Meg

Instagram catch up

I usually write more, but sometimes photos are just better. And more will come. My life will never be more busy or more amazing.

I woke up today and I counted all my blessings. I have so many. This may sound weird, but I just love being inside my own head. I could spend hours in there talking to myself and figuring out life. I just love thinking. So if I disappear, that's probably where I am. I'm not going crazy, I'm going home.

So I've been cheating on this blog with my blog for the Chronicle, check it out here.

-Meg

Food. That stuff you eat.

I'm famous for my rules. No kissing on the first date, always wear tights or nylons with skirts... etc. But being a college student has severely altered my stance on food.

I used to have clear, defined lines of what food belonged at what time of the day. Breakfast food, and especially cereal, belonged only in the a.m.; mac and cheese for lunch; and steak and potatoes for dinner.

Now, I'm known to eat eggs at any time of day. Mostly because I rarely eat meat anymore, so I have to get my protein somehow. And it just so happens that other breakfast foods happen to be cheap and easy to fix. That's why I'm eating a bagel at one o'clock in the morning.

I also used to have this grudge against leftovers. I mean, I'd eat them, but I didn't enjoy it, and when my mom pulled out the week's leftovers for left over night, I rolled my eyes snobbishly wished that she'd made an original meal.

Now, I cherish every scrap of food I have. Nothing goes to waste. I must eat everything and if I cannot, I must save it for later.

And free food? I can smell it from a mile away. Thank you, Institute, and other benevolent third parties who impart of your good graces and share food with us college students!

I also find myself eating the same thing for lunch, and dinner, and the next day's dinner... until the meal that was supposed to feed 10 people is now gone. Consumed by one.

I tried out this recipe and loved it will all my stomach and heart. So did Sam. You should try it. (I used vegetable stock, but do what you will.)

-Meg

Just me being random and bananas

Today I felt like I could do anything and everything. It's mostly on account of exercising, I think. I lifted weights and rowed and crunched until my body was trembling and I felt that my middle section was going to collapse. This is good.

The snow was also a blessing, and I slid around just a bit and swore just a bit. I grocery shopped and cooked with Sam and homeworked. (Still working on that, actually.)

I wrote, and then thought of something funny to add after the fact. (I do that every time I write something that I think is clever.)

I'm working on not using parenthetical so much. (Sorry).

OK, there was some happy weirdness for ya'll. Just had to get it out into the cyber world, because that is what I do.

-Meg

Making it up as I go

I am really big into life evaluation. I worry that sometimes I spend more of my life analyzing my time than actually living my life. Anyway, the point is that finals are coming around the corner. That means another crossword puzzle to construct, a few papers and lots of studying to do.

Because I was home for Thanksgiving break, and when I came back I was busy doing stuff with my cousins and Sam, I neglected to go grocery shopping. I will be fine... I have food, but I don't have fresh food, like eggs or milk or bread. [sigh].

So I tried to make muffins, right, like I do every weekend. And I was all, "I can just make up my own recipe... la la la..."

I mean, I did it once before, right?

Um, they are gross. Embarrassing thing is that I gave them to my home teachers before I even tried them myself. And they were nice and they lied and said they were good! When Sam and I ate them, we just could not eat another bite. So now I feel really dumb. And I think I need to stick to recipes that people have actually tested. Maybe I'll try to fix it, but for now, just know that today's Muffin Monday is gross so I am not even going to post the recipe.

And yes, I am aware that I forgot to post about muffins last week. Forgive me. Here it is! This recipe is delicious, and there is more sugar than flour.  They are technically financiers, which is a French Muffin. Oui Oui!

And Sam got to separate the egg whites from the egg yokes. He was very excited about that.

So finals are just around the river bend... and as close as I am to finishing it... I'm giving up NaNoWriMo. I'm 37 thousand words in, and I could still finish...But no. Let's face it, I'd rather be spending time with Sam or doing my homework. Because I'm shamelessly in love and school is important (even though I am seriously lacking motivation).

And I know that writing it here makes it official. And I hate to say that this is the second year in a row that I have come short of 50,000 words. I have done much more than I did last year--I think I got to 17k?--and I have a legitimate story.  I started with nothing and now I have this little plot and a million characters and I love them, and they are their own people.

Ya, lots of psycho madness goin' on right now. Thought I'd just rattle on to the world about muffins and writing and love.

I am going to write more soon. I promise. More scenes from the weekend:

-Meg

Old Maid Meg's Muffins and Eggs

If you follow me on Pinterest, then you probably have noticed that I have a thing for muffins. This summer I've made a few batches, and I just bought my very own muffin tin!

I found the perfect blueberry muffin recipe {here}. They looked like this:

Brittni and I delivered them to the mothers of our friends on missions. (It says, "There's muffin' better than a missionary mom.")

Then I tried Glazed Doughnut Muffins. I panicked when I realized that I didn't have any liners, but I sprayed really well and they turned out just dandy. I actually prefer it that way, and it saves the planet!

Those were oh so heavenly. That recipe is found {here}.

I would recommend making more frosting than it calls for. I doubled the recipe and the frosting, but I maybe would have tripled the frosting. But I like frosting, so you know.

Holy whoa am I actually blogging about food? What is this world coming to? I don't know, but muffins are pretty much as awesome as cupcakes, except healthier (generally).

One of my goals for the upcoming semester is to make a different kind of muffin every week! And throughout that week I'll eat them for breakfast and share with my roommates and etc. Oh of course I'm going to tell you guys all about it!

Get ready for Muffin Mondays! Starting the August 22.

See you then!

-Meg

Sometimes I just have to be cliche and uber perky

Good things:

1. Eating tons of amazing ambrosia food. And not eating any meat.

2. Running. And finding beauty everywhere.

3. Doing hard things. Like homework, and planning a meal.

4. Finishing freaking amazing books.

5. This amazing thing.

-M

Salmon Cakes

I knew I there had to be a reason I stayed up late:

I call it the Matthew Chain.

Today was a good day, full of running, gardening, organizing, and taking over the world. But today also included cooking Salmon Cakes.

Not successful.

My mom will tell you they tasted wonderful, and maybe they did. She's probably just saying that because she's my mom and she has to.

The salmon cakes I had were drenched in cilantro dressing, so I couldn't taste them, not like I can taste much anyway. I opened the new bottle of dressing, and by accident I poured too much on.
This are they. Disgusting-looking, I know. My mom makes them much more beautifully.
This is the one that fell apart. Putting it on the Harry Potter plate slightly redeemed it.
The corn was boiling. This was at the height of my anxiety. I'm trying to make cakes out of mushed up salmon, mayo, and breadcrumbs, so my hands are messy and gloppy, and the water's boiling over the pot, and I'm trying to remember which cakes have been on the pan the longest and which ones need to be turned over... [I do not like cooking].

-just little old me(g)

Holiday Kitchen Mishaps

You can't experience Christmas without goodies, and you can't experience goodies without baking some yourself, and you can't experience baking without some mishaps along the way.

Tonight my sister and a friend tried making Hootnanies (aka German Pancakes). We are out of flour, so they used wheat flour instead.

The concoction turned out like this:

Keep in mind that German Pancakes are supposed to look like this:

They didn't rise, so they weren't light and fluffy; instead they were thick and heavy. Gross.

Mishap No. 2-- the Almints

We were trying to make after-dinner-mint candy. Everything went well until we tasted them. They were very salty and not very minty. After examining the flavoring bottle, the culprit was found. We used almond flavoring instead of mint. Holy whoa they are nasty.

Tomorrow we're making gingerbread houses, so we saved the almints anyway. They look alright, after all. (Exciting blog post to follow about that adventure!)

-just little old me(g)

Wild Weekend

What a weekend!


Thanksgiving was yummy. I did actually make a dish. That is a miracle. I really don't like cooking very much, but my parents insisted. I concocted a yummy sugar-free jello salad.



Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Everyone came to our house. I adore decorating the house and setting the table with our best china. My mom's china is the set she got at her wedding. She hasn't broken a single piece yet! Everyone's really careful with it.



My mother's jam is ambrosia.







My mom, my aunts, my cousin and I went Black Friday shopping. It was very scary, but I love going every year. I would never go alone! Working as a team works best. I don't want to go into to many details about what we got. (You never know who reads the blog... I can't be spoiling anything now, right?)





I was exhausted the entire time. I couldn't sleep so I watched "Glee" and ended up falling asleep around 1 a.m. Not a good idea if you have to wake up at 2 a.m. to get good deals! Most of the experience is foggy in my memory because I was so sleep deprived.





I am always amazed at how people can be jerks. There were jerks on Friday, but Saturday was the worst. I'm so upset about Max Hall's comments about the University of Utah after our loss. I'm pretty offended, but I'm trying to be forgiving. I just hope people don't associate him with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints. BYU is a church owned instition, but some cougar fans were obviously not keeping that in mind. Utes are children of God too!

I would be amiss if I didn't acknowledge what a good time at Improv Friday. Thanks JC! I love my friends back at home.

-M