Zucchini Pizza

Tonight seemed like a good night for a healthy, tasty dinner.

Something with cheese maybe?

 

But what?

 

We had a large zucchini in the fridge, so I decided to search for a good zucchini recipe.

I found a recipe for "Zucchini Pepperoni Pizza" and settled on that.

Minus the pepperoni.

 

And Mmmmmmmmm was it good!

 

Want to try it yourself?

 

Here's how I did it:

Preheat oven to 400*f.

Get a large Zucchini, wash it, and cut it into flat slabs.

 

 

If you're making sausage pizza, get your frozen sausage out now and start browning it in a pan.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, place your zucchini slabs on a greased tinfoil covered cookie sheet.

Sprinkle slabs with salt, pepper and oregano.

 

 

Slide your zucchini into the oven and set timer for 15 minutes.

 

 

 

Now get out your pizza sauce and mozzarella or (cheese of choice). 

 

 The sausage should be fully browed by now.



After the 15 minutes is up, remove the zucchini from the oven. 

Top with sauce, cheese, and lastly sausage.

 

Slide it back into the oven for another 15 minutes or till cheese is melted/browned to your liking.

 

 

The finished product: 

 

 

 

What an awesome way to use those overgrown zucchini from your garden!

One zucchini easily feeds 4 people.

This turned out to be a quick, easy and delicious summer dinner.

 

So what are you waiting for? 

Go find yourself a monster zucchini and make yourself some pizza!!! :)

 

 

Buenas noches!

 

~

ISA

Coconut Chia Pudding

Today, I decided to put one of my Pinterest pins to good use! :)

I found the recipe for this healthy dessert on kitchenconfidante.com, though I omitted the sugar since our coconut milk was already sweetened.
And the idea of adding Mango was inspired by a separate pin.

Here's how I did it:

Coconut Chia Pudding

First, pour approx. 12oz of sweetened coconut milk in a glass and add 1/3 cup chia seeds.

Stir until well combined.

Place glass in fridge to chill.

Next, peel & cut 1 mango, and chill in fridge if desired.

Now wait 2-3 hours

(though I didn't wait quite that long)

for your chia seeds to expand.

Ta-dah!

Your pudding is finished!

Pour it into bowl(s), top with mango, and enjoy!

 

The finished product was delicious! 

It's like tapioca pudding, minus the dairy.

And the mango chunks added phenomenal flavor.  

 

 

 

 

 

G iordano's

And now, I'd like to give a plug for Chicago style deep dish pizza.

If you haven't had real deep dish pizza: you, my friend, are missing out.

The above pictured pizza was delicious.

G!ordano's stuffed cheese pizza.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

I personally helped with the consumption process. :) 
 
 



 

Alex

And lastly, here's a picture from a month or so back of

Alex, a Silver Laced Polish rooster.  

A docile but noisy rooster.

I guess you could say "His crow is bigger than his bite." ;)

 

 

Hope you're having a splendid summer!

 

Muy sinceramente,

 

~

ISA

 

 

 

Lemon Tea

I don't know if it's is allergies or a cold, but I'm experiencing a bit of a runny nose/soar throat right now and, needless to say, I'm not particularly enjoying it.

But there are some good things about being sick.

If you're extremely sick (at the moment I'm not), you get to stay home and sleep in!

And no matter how sick you are, you can always drink Lemon Tea!!

That's my favorite soar throat remedy right now.
Lemon tea is so simple to make:
Hot water + fresh lemon juice + a spoonful of raw honey. 
And it's so warm and soothing. 
The steam is good for the sinuses and the lemon/honey soothes a soar throat.
True, it's not permanently soothing.  Which is why you might end up drinking cup after cup of "lemon tea".  But extra fluids can't hurt when your body is fighting a virus/cold/flu.
Just don't overdo it on the honey if you're gonna drink a bunch of tea.

So what else have I been up to?

Well a lot of things.

Hemming and hawing.  Planning.  Spending time with extended fam :)

Working.  Walking.  Staying up too late.

And as always, a little bit of cooking/microwaving... hehe.

Microwave Single Serving Brownie 

(Picture taken before microwaving).

This brownie was chocolate-y and delicious.

 

 

 Mexican Chip Dip

1 can Refried beans, (1 cup-ish) sour cream+taco seasoning, 1 can tomatoes with green chiles, and some shredded cheddar cheese.

Yummmmmmmmy.

 

 

 Microwave English Muffin pizza.

This was disgusting. 

I think that some things are worth taking the time to bake and follow a recipe, and it would seem pizza falls under this category. :P

 

 

 

Well, that's what I've been up to.

 

How about you?

 

Hope you are having a superb summer. 

 

Enjoy what's left of it, don't get sick, and if you do catch a cold- DRINK LEMON TEA! :]

 

¡Que le vaya bien!

 

~

ISABEL

A Quick Hello

Hello!

You thought I'd fallen off of the face of the earth, I bet?

Nope.  I'm still here!

I've just neglected my blog terribly.

Anyways, this is going to be a short post, cuz it's late and I don't have much time.

It's been a busy few months.

Hard to believe summer is here... how time flys!

So much to be thankful for.  God is good.

I want to introduce you to our little flock!

This short clip is all I'm gonna post for now.

Meet Gucci, Alex, Rhubarb, Tiffany, and Strudel!

Hello from the long lost Blogger

Hola amigos!

It's February!

And time marches on!

Weekend follows week which is followed by another week, etc.


It's in the midst of standard weekday mornings that I get lost in thought while going about the usual tasks.

I think about what needs to be done, and what I'll do first, second, third, etc.

I think about comparisons, like how the wax paper on a roll of stamps looks strikingly similar to the paper for "fruit r*ll ups".

And sometimes I think deep, profound thoughts- and I try to remember them. But it's hard to remember many details after a few busy hours.


So busy! 
Business makes time seem to fly!
And business can make one feel exhausted as ever!

So here's a verse for any of us who can relate to the feeling of busy exhaustion:
Galatians 6:9 (NASB) "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."



And now, I leave you with a photo and a thought provoking question.

The photo?

A turkey at an intersection. 

(Yes, I took this picture:)

 

The question?

"Why did the turkey cross the road?"


~~
Isabel

Welcome to 2013 :)

Happy New Year!
Wow- has it really been a year since the start of 2012?
Time does fly!
Maybe I'll do a post about 2012 happenings.

Life has been busy, busy, BUSY!
I've been booking almost every free minute I can find,
But it's good to just sit and breathe now and then!

I havent made any New Years Resoltions yet.

We haven't gotten much snow this winter.
But while looking at the little bit we got, I was walking home the other day thinking about how it reminded me of a whole bunch of white dandilion blossoms blown all over the grass, nearly covering it!

It was a nice dream.


Random thoughts:
Isn't it a comfort to know that God has a plan for your life, and they're GOOD plans! :)
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Remember: God didn't promise that things wouldn't be complicated or hard.
But he promises to be with us through it all. We just gotta trust him.

In other news-
My deary sister just turned 17 in December!

Love ya Em.<3

I had a good Christmas. I hope you did too!
We had family over and had a fun time of catching up, enjoying delicious food, and playing games.

(Apples to Apples)

 

I'd love to tell you more about the holiday season happenings- but since it's getting late, I'll save it for another time!

Feliz Navidad, y Happy New Year!

Sinceramente,
~~
ISA

 

 



Of Recently

It's been nearly 2 months since I updated my blog!
Time sure fly's when your busy! (and when you're having fun! ;)
So whats new with me?
Well, not much really. 
I've still been doing a bit of cooking/baking :)


FUDGE
It's just that time of year.
As of recently, I tried a recipe I found for Microwave Fudge.

 

What can I say? I wanted a quick dessert!

The Recipe(from allrecipes):
Ingredients

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

• 4 cupsconfectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cupunsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cupmilk
• 1/2 cupbutter
• 2 teaspoonsvanilla extract

Directions

1. Grease a 9x9 inch dish.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and cocoa. Pour milk over mixture and place butter in bowl. Do not mix. Microwave until butter is melted, 2 minutes. Stir in vanilla and stir vigorously until smooth. Pour into prepared dish.
3. Chill in freezer 10 minutes before cutting into squares

It tasted good, although it was a little too thin... it would make a good thick frosting for brownies!
I found a different microwave fudge recipe that looks more promising. Maybe I'll try that one next! ;)




THANKSGIVING
We had thanksgiving at my Aunts house!
Yay for family gatherings!
We had quite the feast!  :)
And a great evening of "Wedding movies"!
Two of my cousins got married this past year, so we decided to watch the recording of the weddings with the fam!! It was great- what a special thanksgiving!
After dinner, I went home with extended fam so we could do a little Black Friday shopping!
My cousin and I had some great catching up time! We stayed up till close to midnight, then she, my aunt and I headed out to shop! By the time we got back... yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaawwwwwwnnnnnn!
Friday mid-morning we made sweedish pancakes (see below).

 

After breakfast, I ended up spending the day with them.  We had so much fun including: played settlers, went out for coffee and hung out until a parade in the evening. That was one COLD parade!




FONDUE
The first week of December, my friend Katie and I hosted a Fondue party for the girls from our church.

I prepared the cheese sauce.
Katie shared the idea of adding grape juice to the sauce! MMM!
The white grape juice gave cheese sauce a great flavor!
And for that matter, everything was delicious!
We had chocolate sauce, marshmallow sauce, white punch, and food galore!
Between games, dinner, Christmas lights, visiting, and a gift exchange, it was a wonderful afternoon!
I'm so thankful for Katie's efforts to organize this with me, and for all the guests/mom who helped out!


So there you have it: a sum up of some events from the past couple months.
The remainder of this month promises to be busy, busy, busy!

But it's ok, I like it that way! :)

Keep warm!

Sinceramente,
ISA