bell cooks again

Friday, December 30, 2011
QUESADILLA CASSEROLE

remember a few weeks ago when i was all about cooking for my farmer? remember when i cooked him a maximum of two meels one week and i was pretty jazzed about it? well allow me to brag! here is one of the delish. recipes i made. it was super easy, pretty quick, and i even cut the fat/calorie content. word.

cast of characters:

2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 tsp oregano leaves, 1/2 tsp red pepps,
2 chicken breasts, 1/2 c chopped onion, 1 16 oz can tomato sauce, 1 can black beans,
1 can corn (undrained), 1 can salsa verde, tortillas, 2 cups shredded cheese
see that mccormick spice package? it has pre-measured spices and a recipe on the back. yum and yum. i've made two so far and they have both been just fine. no complaints here. then i threw in some reduced fat sargento mexican blend cheese and those mission whole wheat tortillas to round out the health factor. (as opposed to white flour tortillas and regular cheddar cheese.) 

another note: you're supposed to use ground beef, but i used diced chicken. i didn't include the chickn in the picture above because, as it turns out, raw chicken doesn't photograph all too well. ick. moving on...

first you're going to get a large skillet and toss in your two chicken breasts you've diced up. brown the chicken. perfecto. as the chicken is browning, throw in your diced onion (which i just realized isn't pictured either...woops). after those two are cooked/safely nibble-worthy, add the tomato sauce, beans, corn, salsa verde and all the spices except for the red pepps. save the red pepps for the topping right before you bake it in the oven. now your concoction is definitely nibble-worthy. don't do it, you'll spoil your dinner. okay, do it. you don't want to poison your family.

see what i mean about the raw chicken? ick.
now that all ingredients have been cooked up real real good-like, you're ready to preheat your oven. turn it to 350. fab. grab your 13x9x2 baking dish and spray the crap out of it with pam. trust. if you don't you'll be soaking it for nothing short of a week. done? good. now you can layer the bottom of the pan with 1/2 of your chicken mixture. next you're going to slap two tortillas atop the chicken mixture. add the rest of the chicken mixture, sprinkle with cheese, red pepps and voila! you've made yourself a quesadilla casserole. hip hip!


now plop this sucker in your preheated oven and cook it right on up for 15 minutes. when you pull it from the oven, let it relax for about 10 minutes. you'll burn the shiza out of your mouth and hand if you don't. trust.

after dinner, you'll have something that looks like this...


i know what you're thinking. did the farmer and bell really eat over half of the casserole? ummm...yes. it was good! i'm not mad about it.

at this point i feel i should let you know i deviated from the mccormick recipe quite a lot, but it still totally turned out yummy x 5000 and it was quite a bit healthier than their version. but if you really want to try their less-superior way:
  • use beef instead of chicken
  • regular cheese
  • and when you go to layer the casserole: use less of your mixture on the bottom, add tortillas, sprinkle cheese, more mixture, add tortillas, sprinkle cheese, remainder of mixture, sprinkle cheese
final thought: i bet this casserole would be super yum if you topped it with a little sour cream and some cilantro. my farmer doesn't care for cilantro...downright sinful.

do me a solid, yo

Wednesday, December 28, 2011
so. umm. can someone do me a solid and put a lock on my fridge, pantry...and for good measure, remove all christmas candy from the single-wide? thanks.

let me paint a picture of the severity of my request:
  1. i have these super baggy pants i wear to work on the house. they are the pants that i can hardly keep on. the pants i go to when i want to feel skinny. the pants that i don't even have to unbutton to take off. well folks, they are tight. and not tight in the "those pants are so tight, where did you get them?" kind of way. how did this happen?
  2. yesterday, as i nursed the backlash of one too many drinky-drinks, i sat and watched old episodes of teen mom 2, ate cake pops like they were tic tacs, followed by a few slices of ham and a good sized portion of week-old quesadilla casserole. who am i?! (side-note: that casserole needed to be eaten. it was going to go bad soon.)
  3. you know how when you are wearing jeans (or any pants for that matter), you sit down, grab said pants by the beltloops and ever so discreetly lift the waistband over your belly, creating the illusion of a flat stomach (or are we just kidding ourselves)? well, this tactic is no longer working for me. i pull the pants up and over only to creative another rolly-roll. it's a slippery slope, yo.
positive spin: you are not going to BELIEVE what my farmer got me for christmas! a treadmill. a really nice one! you can hook your computer up to watch movies, or your ipod, or you can get really fancy-schamncy and wire tv to it. it has a beautiful digital screen that will tell me how slow i'm running, how many calories i haven't burned, and how many miles i have left to run. the real kicker is it goes up to 17 miles per hour! trust me. my farmer tested it. we're lucky he has long legs or he may have been shot out the back window if he couldn't keep up. one last note about the treadmill: it sounds like a jet engine when it really gets goin'. impressive for sure.

so, i guess my farmer noticed my work-pants were getting a little snug as well, hence the treadmill. farmer likes to help me reach my goals. that's love. thanks farmer.

it's a corn field christmas

Monday, December 26, 2011
just look at what my farmer did...


he cut all that there corn right on down. he cut it all down with this...


remember this machine? it's awesome. and mesmerizing. i think everyone should ride in a combine at least once in their life. or twice. or however many times you want until it's not so cool anymore.

now go back to the first picture. get real real close to your screen. good. now squint. good. see the house in the background? that's the house we're moving into real REAL soon. get excited.

christmas corner

Saturday, December 24, 2011
guys! we brought christmas to the single-wide. we really did! then my gal, jeanine, wrote us a jingle. you can sing the jingle out loud for funzies.

oh single-wide
oh single-wide
how lovely is your corner?
oh single-wide
oh single-wide
how shiny is your faux-wood paneling?
with stockings hung by christmas lights
and wrapping paper so organized...
oh single-wide
oh single-wide
how lovely is your corner?

so trendy

Friday, December 23, 2011
you guys have heard of this, right? it's called planking...and we jumped on the bandwagon last night. but not before the girls annihilated these two at catchphrase. killed them.

my farmer and one of his very best besties - cousin pete.

this picture was obviously taken on a construction site. our construction site. please notice the walls are painted! woop!

THEN the girls did some planking. we did a pretty good job.
top to bottom: moi, my cousin in-law nicole, sissa kelli of denver, cousin pete (he just had to sneak in there.)
oh holidays. brings out the best in people.

nobody said it was easy

Thursday, December 22, 2011
have you ever eaten a cakepop? they are delish. DELISH! let's imagine together now:

you see, when a very nice piece of cake falls in love with a delicious doughnut and they strike up a courtship, eventually they will fall in love and be married. when said cake and doughnut love each other very much they may decide to  make a baby. what they create together is magical and it's called a  cakepop. everyone saw that this was good, and it was so.

i could eat 20 in 20 seconds i bet.

*pop* in my mouth. NOM NOM NOM. that was yum.

but now i have a confession, and i am NOT proud. seriously, i'm a little embarrassed. after miss amy bragged all over the place about her adorable cakepops (she didn't really brag, i'm just jealous), i tried my hand at the ol' c-pops. guess what. they are not easy.

it started with a ridiculous trip to the grocery store. it took me about 47 hours to track down all the necessary supplies. yep, just one hour short of two days.  so after hunting and gathering i wound up armed and ready:
  • 1 bag of white chocolate melts
  • 1 bag of red chocolate melts
  • 1 bag of red hots
  • three bags of cakepop sticks (i thought i was going to be making these a lot...wrong)
  • 1 box of chocolate cake
  • 1 thingy of vanilla icing
  • and a substantial amount of christmas supplies that i shouldn't have purchased.
(i forgot to take a line-up shot. meh.)

so first you make the cake - success!


then, you destroy it. seriously, you crumble the entire thing and add a can of frosting. stir stir stir. nibble, nibble, nibble.


after adding the frosting i had to take a little break to drink some water. my belly was really starting to hurt. at this point in the creation process all i had eaten was two mugs of coffee with two parts bailey's and a load of frosting-cake. i was even more sick from this than when i ate all that pie dough.

after you recover from a sugar coma you can begin to form little balls. this is where it gets embarrassing. i thought it would be great to try to make little santa hats. so i shaped them into some funky looking cones.


the next correct step is to pop these cone-things into the freezer. but i was doing my own thing. so i dipped them into the melted white melts and sprinkled them with white sugar. this was to be the fur on santa's hat. not only did i not freeze the cones, but i dipped them and let them dry. double wrong step. you're actually supposed to dip and immediately put the stick in the bottom of them. woops.

not very pretty, huh?
after this misstep i made all the fur balls that top the santa hats. also ugly. sheesh. i did this by dipping redhots into the the melted candy melts.


after the disaster above i gave up on documenting the rest of the process. here are the final hats. seriously, these were the best eight out of about 40 i could come up with. i told you it was embarrassing.


the good news: these taste freaking awesome. seriously, so yum. 

all i want for christmas is you...

Tuesday, December 20, 2011
and each of these things:

paige frye boots. hands off. they're mine!


bossypants - because it's what i do.

br plaid scarf - oh so cozy and oh so warm.

oh! who's this? i'll take one of these. you're fine.


treadmill - it doesn't have to be this treadmill. get real. this treadmill is expensivo. but just a treadmill that will help me work off my extra fat stores that i like to keep during the winter months. like a bear. RAAAAAR. (bear roar. do bears roar or growl?)



smith aviators - yes please.












pottery barn throw - this oh so cozy, oh so delicious, cuddle me up like a bug in a rug blanket. please allow for just enough room for my little hand to reach out for some p-corn. oh, and i'll also need my other hand for the remote. and if someone could hold a mug of hot cocoa with a splash of bailey's and just sit there and feed it to me, that would be real real great. i'm talkin...the best. thanks.

we don't have a christmas tree

Monday, December 19, 2011
low and behold, the single-wide isn't quite large enough to hold a christmas tree. sad face. the good news? we maintained the tradition of going to my ol' stomping grounds and decorated my parent's tree. thanks ma and pa!

i have a broken neck.


it's been an epic week

Sunday, December 18, 2011
a true picture of love. just look at that love all over his face.
well guys. things didn't go so well this week. riddled with issues, really.

  1. mini-fail: i kind of finalized the paint colors. i'm going to town to buy paint for the great, laundry and bath rooms today. trust - it's harder than it looks. i wish this agony on no one. this answers your next question - no, we didn't get to start painting this week. but it looks promising to start tomorrow.
  2. WIN! my only official win of the week. two times i made my farmer dinner...and no more. heaven forbid i try for three. that would be crazy. i made him some delicious soup on monday. it literally lasted us through lunch on wednesday. i guess that's what is amazing about the crockpot; the longer it cooks something the yummier it gets. and as my farmer likes to say, "set it and forget it." (he's funny like that.)
  3. mini-fail: i ran six times this week. i was super-duper sick on friday. like, on my death-bed. ouch. maybe i got sick from the running?
  4. fail fail: i did really well until thursday. i ate dessert on thursday, ice cream on friday night and some cakepops yesterday. so i guess that means i failed twice sine i said i could eat one sweet. but you know what? i'm going to say this is a mini-win because this goal is particularly tricky around the holidays. people are practically shoving fudge in your face. 
but gee-goll, gosh-darn. i really really tried. (except for the sweets.) try, try again i guess:
  1. seriously, finish all my christmas shopping. this is a must since christmas is on sunday, but i need a for sure win this week.
  2. run every day this week for at least 30 minutes. here we go again.
  3. pick three options for a ski vay-cay and send to my farmer.
  4. no bickering with my sister (flying in from denver on thursday!!!). if you know kell-bell and me you know we are the best of friends. best of friends that bicker harder and longer and more annoyingly than anyone...ever.
happy week and merry christmas everyone!

xoxoxoxoxox

wax it. pluck it. get rid of it.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011
i plucked a hair out of my mole. sick. this isn't the first time. i actually have three moles on my face i pluck hairs out of. i've been doin' it for years, folks. sick. i'm still grossed out every single time. however, when i finally grab that tiny, little hair with the tweezers and manage to pluck it (rather than accidentaly nip it so short i can't grab it anymore) i get this really strange surge of satisfaction. sick. it's the world i live in.

don't tell my farmer. it's a secret.

the good news is i have the majority of my facial hair under control these days. that wasn't the case from the ages of birth to about 16 when my sister finally grabbed me by the shoulders and had a heart to heart. they just grew darker, thicker and more aggressive with age.

"karli, we're going to need to get that eyebrow shaped into two eyebrows."
"ummm. huh? okay," i said.

and so i did.

here is an example of my eyebrow at age four. look closely. my hair may be blond-ish but you can see th fuzz inbetween the eyes connecting the single eyebrow.


and my eyebrows now...

here i am being a super-creep on a flight to reno. but look at those eyebrows! there are two...plural! i've come a long way.

this is funny, promise

Monday, December 12, 2011
please oh please pardon the vulgar title, the rest is fabulous. i'm guilty of pretty much everything in this video...but especially the hoarding of the p-corn, which is portrayed as potato chips in this little vid.

enjoy!


goals schmoals

Sunday, December 11, 2011
skiing the french alps - photo taken jan, 2008
it's that time again. i'll give a completely unbiased opinion of my performance of the previous week in relation to the goals i set last sunday. let's get this party started:
  1. FAIL. oh dear, sweet mother this is a sad story. i really had every intention in the whole, wide world of running every single day. i was doing well too! i ran sunday, monday, tuesday and wednesday. but then wednesday night a horrible accident happend. picture this with me: 
    • it was dark and cold and there was an eery wind rustling through the trees. my farmer had just pulled up to the the single-wide. i was going to hop in his truck and we were going to check out the handy work of the drywallers. (very exciting!) as i hopped down the steps towards the truck, a swallow (very large bird with talons) darted from the trees and dive-bombed my face. i flew backwards, lost my balance, stepped on a large rock, and heard a snap, crunch, scream as i crumbled to the ground. that's how i broke my ankle. yep, broken. then we had to drive over an hour to the hospital, and by that point the doctors couldn't do anything to save it so they just cut it off. that is how my 30 day challenge came to an abrupt halt. 
    • or it may have happened something like this: i was hopping down the steps towards my farmers truck. i was trying to be super cute as i walked in front of the headlights. i stepped on the giant rock (seriously, it was HUGE) and heard a crack, snap, crunch. i didn't fall and there was no bird. i limped the rest of the way to the truck, trying not to cry. i didn't cry. and what do you suppose my farmer said when i got in? "do you think you twisted your ankle because you were wearing those super supportive oversized socks you call uggs?" i took off my ugg and threw it at him. no i didn't. i felt like it. 
    • last point: so i think i sprained/really twisted my ankle. it hurt pretty wickedly. of course it didn't swell or bruise or do anything dramatic so now i look like a giant sissy. but, i ran some milage on it today and it's still attached, so i'll resume running again tomorrow.
  2. FAIL in the worst kind of way. not only did i not finish my christmas shopping, but i got the christmas bug and felt the need to bring the holiday spirit to the single wide. the good news is all decor is transferrable to the new house in just a few short weeks. yay.
  3. WIN!!!!!! WIN!!! WIN! you bet i made dinner for my farmer AND he thoroughly enjoyed it. he really did! it was a quesadilla casserole of sorts. i'll post the recipe later this week. 
  4. WIN - i totally watched less tv. this was a non-scientific approach with no exact calculations from previous weeks to this past week, but my gut says i watched less.
fresh and fancy goals for this week!
  1. finalize all paint colors by friday. yep...painting begins this weekend. bada-bing CHA-CHING!
  2. make dinner for my farmer TWO times this week. i know this begs the question, "did you really only make him dinner once last week?" yes, just the once. but there was so much love and effort all wrapped up into that casserole,  it fed our souls all week. right?
  3. run every day this week for at least 30 minutes. blah blah blah, you've heard this before. 
  4. only eat one sweet the entire week. (should i write FAIL now?)
coming up with new goals each week is tough. any suggestions for next week?

it's a 30 day challenge

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

so i'm doing this 30 day running challenge. i'm tired. and complainy.

basically, i saw a post on facebook from a local triathalon shop. it was something about a "run 30 minutes a day for 30 days in december." every day except new year's eve. since i had basically stopped working out three weeks prior, i thought this might be the kick in the rear i needed to get me jazzy-jazzed for running again.

so, rain or shine, wind or no wind, or if i make up an excuse to drive 65 miles to the gym (one way), i've been pounding the pavement. (it sounds like i've been doing thise for six months, but good god, it's only been six days.)

it's day six of the 30 day challenge and i'm already:
  • full of excuses
  • tired
  • achey
  • hungry
  • need a nap
  • sweaty
  • and full of excuses
can i quit? or at least rest? i just finished day six. i told my farmer that jesus rested on the seventh day. he quickly reminded me that jesus wasn't present at that time. was i referring to god? yes, yes i was. that's what i meant. god rested on the seventh day. apparently i have no bizz referencing the bible. that's why i have a spiritual guidence counselor. her name is jeanine. i also rely heavily on the real housewives of (name a city) and teen mom to keep me morally grounded.

i haven't decided if i'm going to rest on day seven. i keep thinking to myself, "it's only 30 minutes. that's one episode of 30 rock. get out there." maybe i will and maybe i will. i'll keep you posted.

wish me luck.

corn slayin'

Monday, December 05, 2011

this is what my farmer is up to. slayin' that corn. but, it's putting up a good fight. thick and tall, it is. almost taller than our 14 ft. combine.

NOM NOM NOM. eat that corn.

have you heard?

Sunday, December 04, 2011
you probably have heard. it's a fun little iphone app called instagram. it. is. fun. basically it makes photography-challenged people feel like they have some talent. you can put different filters on your pictures and then post them to facebook or twitter or a blog or email them or...or...or any social media you can think of. probably.

so i snapped these shots the other night. instagram is fun...



i can touch my tongue to my nose.

goals? fail.

Sunday, December 04, 2011
photo circa feb. 2008 in my sister's boston apartment
guess where i am? back in front of the tv...logging my ??? hour. harry potter is on thank you very much. judge me if you must.

so, i thought i would take this opportunity to update you on my goals from last sunday and maybe even set some new ones! (unenthusiastic *yay*)

  1. WIN - I GOT DRESSED EVERY DAY THIS WEEK! i really really did. granted, the outfits weren't anything to brag about, but the point is i put on pants. victory.
  2. fail - this didn't happen. i didn't cook three nights this week. i only cooked...kind of...one night this week. and i cooked for me. not farmer. and my dinner was grilled chicken and broccoli. shameful. saturday morning i ate p-corn for breakfast. another fail.
  3. WIN - i really really did run four times this week! yessssss. i ran on tuesday, thursday, friday and saturday. i also ran today, but that's a new week. 
  4. fail - i took pictures but not great ones and i'm not even going to post them. basically all that happened was the insulation was blown into the ceiling and exterior walls. woo.
let's set new goals.
  1. i'm going to run every single day this week for at least 30 minutes. it's a little thing i'm doing. 30 minutes (at least) for 30 days in a row. that's every day in december except for new years eve. 
  2. finish all christmas shopping without getting sidetracked and buying something for myself.
  3. cook one real dinner this week that my farmer can enjoy. take a picture to prove i did it.
  4. watch less tv. (i already know this one is a fail)
what are your goals?

wish me luck.

delish wedding apple pie

Thursday, December 01, 2011
THIS IS THE PIE RECIPE I USED FOR MY (our) WEDDING AND IT IS JUST SO STINKIN' GOOD I CAN'T EVEN STAND IT! seriously, it's real...real good.

first, let's give you some background. we had an outdoor wedding and decided pie was the way to go. i like pie more than cake anyway...most of the time. so i was on a mission to bake about 30 pies the day before my wedding when my b-maid came up with the idea to pre-make the crusts and filling and just freeze it. so we did. we marathon-styled 30 balls of pie dough and all the glorious apple pie filling about two months before the wedding. then we just popped it right on in the freezer and the next time we looked at it, it was being packed in a cooler to bring to mccall. then, the day before the wedding my glorious, beautiful, amazing b-maids in addition to my moms, mom-in-law, and my sweet cortney took over two kitchens and baked some serious apple pie. woo-dawgy. and let me tell you: they. were. yum. (side note - this could very well be because i hadn't eaten anything other than chicken breast, rabbit food and air-popped p-corn for about four months...but dang i looked good.)

i now present: WEDDING APPLE PIE (but may be used for any occasion or random day)
(another note - filling recipe was bequeathed to me from dear, sweet cathie who learned of said recipe from her dear, sweat grandma. the pie crust recipe is from smitten kitchen which i learned about from one of my most favorite people in the world (with the best pecs, might i add), casey.)

cast of characters for both the filling and crust

DOUGH:
2 1/2 c flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, very cold (i actually like salted butter for pies because it creates a sweet/salty effect.)
  • now gather all your ingredient, my dear. you're going to want a dish filled with ice water, large mixing bowl, measuring cups/spoons, pastry blender (or a fork if you're up for the challenge).
  • whisk together flour, sugar and salt.
  • dice your butter into 1/2 inch cubes. yep...all of it. this takes awhile.
  • sprinkle your butter cubes over the flour and begin working them in with your pastry blender or fork. you'll continue to blend until the butter is about the size of tiny peas. at this point, there is a really good chance you're going to want to taste what you've muscled together. i enthusiastically encourage you to do this. but stop after a few pinches. you'll get sick. you really will. i know from experience.
  • now you're going to glue the dough together. begin drizzling the icy cold water in. start with 1/2 c. use your rubber spatula. keep drizzling the water, adding by about a tbsp. each time. you'll use an additional 1/4 - 1/2 c.
  • you're going to feel like it's not sticky enough to hold. it is. trust. try not to handle the dough too much as the heat from your hands will melt that butter! you DO NOT want to melt that butter. trust.
  • gather the dough together with your little hands into a big ol' clump and divide it into two equal parts. wrap the equal parts into two plastic wraps. place in the fridge for at least an hour.
that's it! your dough is made. yum! seriously, yum. it's nothing to joke about.

FILLING:
2 16 oz cans of apple pie filling - rinse them. drain them. get rid of anything they thought would be good.
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • mix everything in a bowl
  • taste to make sure it's not poisonous
  • did you live? taste again to celebrate living
now you're going to want to take the dough out of the fridge. roll it out. i don't want to tell you how to roll it out because, quite frankly, i stink at it. basically i just roll it out until i think it's big enough to fit in the pie pan. then i fold it into fourths, place it in the pie pan, and unfold it. voila! now plop the filling in. taste it again. heck...you should even lick the bowl. seriously. do it. now you're going to want to roll your second ball of dough out. you can do a lattice crust or any fancy tutorial you're brave enough to find online. or you can keep it simple and classy - roll it out and pinch the perimeter. beautiful. bake it at 425 for 15 minutes then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for an additional 30 minutes. i'm a skittish baker and tend to check on my pie every five minutes for the final 20.

forgive me - i did a horrible job picture-documenting my baking process. this is the pie i brought to thanksgiving dinner:

my balls of pie dough, prepped and ready for the fridge
this is where you dump the peeled and sliced ooey-gooey, gelatin like apples into the colander to get rid of
all the junk you don't want. rinse extremely well so that you can add your own delish spices!


so at this point the apples have been rinsed and i've added in all the ingrediants for the
filling. now you just stir, stir, stir. or maybe it's more of a fold. you don't want to mush your apples.
no no. just make sure they are evenly coated. then you get to taste. yum.

see that excess dough in the top left of the picture. i ate that. i rubbed it around
the empty bowl that had the filling in it and ate it. about 10 minutes later i felt sick.

then i used a handy cookie cutter and made the leaves/top crust. and you can bet
that if there was a bad-lookin' leaf *pop* right into my mouth.
finished product! double yum.
if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment! i know my instructions were not super clear...but it was my first go. i'll get better.

@karlibellmeier