Healthy Sloppy Joe's

I love finding recipes and tweaking them. I love eating. I love eating healthy trying to eat healthy. And I recently discovered that I kinda love taking photos of food.

So I decided to get back to posting recipes on my little blog here. Because, seriously, who doesn't love food?!

Let's start with some yummy sloppy joe's. These are a bit healthier than using the canned sauce. I know, that canned sauce is tasty. But it's just so bad for you! The sodium per serving kinda makes my arteries clog up without even eating any. I found a recipe for a healthier alternative using ground turkey, and I was honestly nervous about it. However, it's tasty. Trust me. And trust my husband, who eats 2 servings for dinner and the rest of the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients
2-3 lbs of ground turkey
1 green pepper, diced
1 sweet onion, diced
5 tbsp oil (type is your preference; I use EVOO and flax oil.)
a dash of burger seasoning
a dash of salt
1 tsp of pepper
2 tbsp of garlic powder (use less if you don't like garlic; my hubs LOVES it.)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (this is optional; I put it in everything.)
1 cup of barbeque sauce



I serve this over rice, rather than on a bun. I make the rice in my steamer, which takes about 5 minutes of prep time and 45 minutes of cook time. One cup of rice, 1 3/4 cups of water, a dash of salt, a spoonful of unsalted margarine, and a few squeezes of lemon. You can also drop in a small piece of lemon peel for extra flavor.

When there is only about 20 minutes left on the steamer, then I start cooking the rest of the meal. Put everything except the barbeque sauce in a large pot, and mix together. Cook on med-high heat until the turkey is cooked (10-15 mins, depending on how many lbs you use). Add the barbeque sauce, stirring often, and cook about 10 more minutes (or until done to your preference).

Your rice will finish up about the same time. Fluff it with a fork, and scoop into bowls.

Scoop some of the turkey mixture over the rice, and serve immediately. Done!

Insta-iPhonography Friday 12.2.11

When my point and shoot camera decides not to work (which is more often than not), I turn to my iPhone to capture the little things in my life.

Oops, I put my mac & cheese and wine photo in there twice!



I particularly like to remember my cooking adventures each month:

I haven't DLed any new apps lately, but two that I enjoy are TiltShiftGen and MoreNoel. The free version of TiltShiftgen doesn't allow you to use photos from your camera roll, so you have to open the app to shoot a photo before applying the effect. After you click the shutter, the menu opens up the Blur, Color, and Vignette options. In the Blur option, you can use a line, circle or oval shaped focus, and increase/decrease the blur. In the Color option, you can adjust the overall saturation, brightness, and contrast. In the vignette option, you can darken up the corners of the photo. Then, you can save to your camera roll and/or export to twitter, facebook, and email. I like using this app to take photos with creative focus.

I found out about the MoreNoel app through another blog. (I would give credit, but I can't remember who wrote about it on her blog!) This app is so much fun! You can use the in-app camera, or you can choose a photo from your camera roll. When you have your photo, you tap on effects. You can either apply a star filter or night glare, and each effect has 3 levels - light, medium, strong. You can't apply both effects at the same time, but either effect does wonders to glam up a photo. I'm excited to use this app with photos of my Christmas decorations!

InstaFriday at Life Rearranged
iPhonography at One Mom's Perfect Imperfections

Insta-iPhonography 11.5.11

I take photos with my iPhone constantly... Anywhere from 2 to 22 photos every day. So, you'd THINK that I would post them here more often.

Alas, that is not the case. And, as a result, prepare to drown in September's iPhone photos. Here is a collage of random moments:

I learned to mix filters in instagram:

I had some fun cooking & baking adventures:

I haven't been posting photos on instagram for the past couple of months because I have been too busy. I do hope that will change once my work travel season is over. Also, I hope to post some new apps next week! (Don't hold your breath, though... Just in case I forget.)

InstaFriday at Life Rearranged
iPhonography at One Mom's Perfect Imperfections

Homemade 0reo Overload

Yesterday, Ashley from After Nine to Five (the shop and the blog) posted her homemade ice cream treat.

It made me hungry.

And it made me think.

Jon and I live smack in the middle of a cute little town. It's really convenient because there is a pharmacy, post office, bridal shoppe (for my dress), and several eateries within walking distance. The different places to eat include a classic diner, some mid-priced places, and a couple fancy restaurants.

And an ice cream shop.

It's so easy to just walk there, grab a sundae, and walk home. But it's so expensive! There has to be a better way to get my summer ice cream fix.

So I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work yesterday. I spent $5 to get a package of 0reos and a container of vanilla frozen yogurt. With those, plus the chocolate syrup and chocolate chips that we already had, and I created my own 0reo Overload at home!



I decided not to include the fudge, since there seemed to be enough chocolate in there already. And I didn't mind using the frozen yogurt rather than the sweet cream ice cream, because their ice cream is too sweet for me anyway. Plus, after the chocolate syrup is mixed in, it tastes sweeter.

There's plenty left to make several more sundaes, and it's much more cost-efficient than spending $7 or $8 on one small sundae.

I can't wait to try new sundaes!

Menu Plan Monday - 5.23.11

I am so excited to be back to planning real meals this week, now that Jon is home again.

Tonight - Pasta fagioli in the crockpot

Tuesday - Leftovers
We need to clean out the fridge from this past weekend.

Wednesday - Burgers
With a random veggie.

Thursday - Chicken
I had leftover honey teriyaki sauce from when I made it in the crockpot a few weeks ago. I think I just going to soak the chicken in the sauce all day, and grill it when we are ready to eat.

Friday - Sloppy joe's
Usually over rice instead of buns, and with a random veggie.


Remember the simple coq au vin in the crockpot that I had mentioned a few weeks ago? Well, it didn't taste as good as it smelled. The sauce was DELiSH, but the chicken (to me) was dry. Jon thought it didn't have enough flavor. I'm not sure if it's because of the adaptations I made, or if I overcooked it. Regardless, I probably won't be making it again. I'm cooking my way through some cookbooks my mom lent me when she lent me her crockpot. I've been keeping copies of the recipes for the meals we like, and I added a crockpot to our wedding registry.


If you want to join in with the weekly menu planning, head over to Org Junkie every Monday!

Then and Now

Christy over at The colour 4 posted a "Looking Back" thing on her blog today, and I wanted to give it a try! She posted some specific points from the past, like 10 years ago and 5 years ago. We're supposed to think about what we were doing back then, and reflect on how much things have changed.

Sounds fun! And I even found some photos to supplement.


10 years ago: March 24, 2001
I was finishing up my sophomore year in high school. I was still discovering myself and who I was inside, and was quite uncomfortable in my own skin. I didn't have a boyfriend, although I had quite a few male friends, one of whom was Jon. I danced at the same studio where I had been attending classes since I was 3, and I was cheering on my high school's JV team, as well as an all-star team in the area.

Would you believe, my skin really WAS this clear!
I didn't do any retouching.

5 years ago: March 24, 2006
I was finishing up my 3rd year of college. I was dating a guy who I loved, but we didn't work well together. We knew it almost from the very start, yet we continued to date for almost 3 years, fighting each other and the truth until the bitter end. (This took an emotional toll on me and always left me feeling very empty and alone. Separating from him was like a breath of fresh air.) After living on campus for 2 years, I had moved back home and was cheering for a college-level team.




1 year ago: March 24, 2010
I was finishing up my Master's degree. I was dating Jon and we were so happy, even though I was anxiously awaiting his proposal. I knew it was coming, I just didn't know when. I was living on campus again, but I was miserable, and couldn't wait to move home. I was working part-time in the same job where I am now working full-time.




Yesterday: March 23, 2011
I worked most of the day, and was supposed to have class, but it was canceled because of snow. I was able to go home and have dinner with Jon, sloppy joe's over rice instead of buns and snap peas for a veggie.

Today: March 24, 2011
I am working all day. When I leave here, Jon and I have an appointment, and we'll be having dinner together again (which is a rarity). We're having mushroom barley stew in the crockpot. We are less than 5 months away from our wedding!

Tomorrow: March 25, 2011
I'll be working all day, as usual. When I come home, Jon will be out with his friends, so I plan to spend the night at home, writing a paper. Dinner will be pizza, because there is a place right by us that has great prices, tastes delicious, and delivers for free!

Macro Friday #41

My entry for Laura's Macro Friday today is my Macro entry for the February 2011 Photo Hunt. (CLICK HERE to see all my photos for this month's challenge.)

Red velvet cupcakes that my mom and I made for my work potluck lunch! They were DELiSH.




___________________________________



i♥faces
Disclaimer: This is not my photo. I did not take it.
Copyright belongs to iheartfaces and the original photographer.

Original:


My color edit, and my favorite edit for this week:


My b&w edit:


Other edits with the original in the background:


Which one of my edits do YOU like best??

YouCapture - Things that start with the Letter "L"

Last three 7 Layer cookies!

Taken with my iPhone and processed using the instagram app.

Color Splash Sunday - A Fair Staple Food

<center><a href="http://purple-hippie.blogspot.com/p/color-splash-sunday.html"><img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/prin367cess/colorsplashsunday.jpg"></a></center>
Color splash photos are those that have been converted to black and white, but one object (or several small objects) has (have) been left colored. Sometimes, it's easy to just isolate your colored object and you're done. Other times, more editing is required, such as adjusting color levels/light/shadow/etc

This week's theme is AMUSEMENT PARK or FAIR or CARNIVAL. My whole family went to our local county fair last week, and it was so much fun! The best about the fair is the food, easily. There's so much food everywhere! There is Greek food and Italian food and Polish food and American food and Chinese food and Mexican food... I am always stuffed when we leave.

Something I get every year at the fair is fried dough. Each part of the world has their own version of fried dough, including New Orleans. They have French-style beignets, which are very similar to my favorite, the Italian zeppoles.



Before I put up the Linky tool, I want to remind you all that MY GIVEAWAY ENDS TONIGHT! 9pm EST. There will be 2 winners. CLICK HERE to enter!

Okay, time to link up your own photos!

YOUR CHOICE!

Color Splash Sunday - Ice Cream

<center><a href="http://purple-hippie.blogspot.com/p/color-splash-sunday.html"><img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y293/prin367cess/colorsplashsunday.jpg"></a></center>
Color splash photos are those that have been converted to black and white, but one object (or several small objects) has (have) been left colored. Sometimes, it's easy to just isolate your colored object and you're done. Other times, more editing is required, such as adjusting color levels/light/shadow/etc.

This week's theme is ice cream! Here in America, today is ACTUALLY National Ice Cream Day!



This is my favorite flavor EVER. There is no better combination than chocolate, caramel, and marshmellow, with some fudge fish on the side. I can eat this entire carton by myself. In one night. Which I did, after taking this picture. (Which is why I probably won't be able to fit into a wedding dress in 13 months.)

I got this idea back when we did pink objects and Marlis splashed the cutest photo ever - her daughter eating some strawberry ice cream. So I am really looking forward to seeing some different flavors of ice cream today!

Jewelry/Accessories

Egg White

When I think of white,
I automatically think of 3 things:
snow, flowers, and eggs.

But I don't want to think about snow anymore.
It's been averaging about 85 degrees this week.

And I post WAY too many pictures of flowers.

So, eggs it is.

While I do make hard-boiled eggs often,
I don't usually take pictures of them.
Unless, of course, I plan on dying them
to hide all over the house. For fun.


Wow, this picture is BORING. Let's spice it up a little!


MUCH better!

Now, let's see if I can remember how I did this. Most of my photo editing is unorganized and chaotic. I try different things, compare results, delete random layers, throw some masks around, and hope it all creates something I like. So, even though I edited this photo about 2.36 seconds before typing up this post,
I'm not exactly certain how I did it.

Luckily for me, (and for you, if you are anything like me and neglect to write down HOW you edit your photos), pse has this nifty little gadget to help me out! Before you close your edited photo, click on "Window" and "Undo History." Ta-da!


With the Undo History, you can see exactly what steps you took, you can click on a specific step to see the photo before and after, and you can also select a series of steps to undo them all.

So here's a basic rundown of what I did:

--Levels mask to adjust light and dark; flatten image.
--Gradient Map mask to make it black and white.
--Adjusted the opacity of the above layer, apparently twice. It ended up being 87%.
--Flatten image again. (I do this after every major change.)
--Here, I ran DPM's Oh The Drama action to increase contrast drastically, because I love dramatic photos. I do this on almost every photo.
--Lowered the opacity of the action layer to 46%.
--Flatten image again.
--Then, I ran Coffeeshop's Give It Texture action. I can easily apply textures without this action, but I like that it gives me the opportunity to easily change the texture's hue/saturation/contrast.
--The texture I used is called Oil Painting 3 and it is one of many awesome FREE textures from Shadowhouse Creations. (Go visit his site - it's nothing less than amazing.) I changed the hue and saturation of the texture to a very pale shade of purple, because I wanted to preserve the whiteness of the eggs.
--Lowered the opacity of the texture layer to 54%.
--Brushed the color of the texture off the eggs. (Another bonus about using the Give It Texture action.)
--Brushed the texture itself off the eggs using a soft brush at 25% to soften them up.
--Flatten image one last time.
--Added signature.

I think this took me approximately 11 minutes to complete. Sometimes, I spend upwards of 30 minutes editing a photo. Other times, I do 4-5 minutes and I'm done. I try not to edit for hours and hours. If I let myself spend that much time editing, then I feel like I'm manipulating the image too much. Besides, who has HOURS AND HOURS to spend editing photos? I'd rather be reading, spending time with family and friends or taking more pictures!

Another thing to remember as you are editing your photos: Every single person on Earth who edits photos, is different and unique. We each have our own styles and preferences. You should always tweak layers and actions to make an edit that YOU like. Don't worry about what other people think, because there is no WRONG way to edit photos. "One man's junk is another man's treasure."


Simplicity Blog Hop
(This week's theme is white.)


Pixel Perfect Before & After


Hosted by Cecilyand Mamarazzi

i heart faces Challenge - Yellow

Click the button to see more YELLOW shots!



This was taken almost 2 years ago, with a k0dak point and shoot. Not bad, eh? Other than the flash on Matt's eye, I love this shot. I have it framed in my room. And I ROCK at self-portraits.


Update on Matt: He has to get more bloodwork done this week, as well as an EEG. We spent all day Friday at the children's hospital. His doc said it might just be a case of lowering one of his meds. Another possibility is simply decreased kidney function, because transplanted organs don't last forever. Worst case scenario, the kidney may be developing a completely separate disorder. But that's a very rare event, so he is leaning more towards decreased kidney function, which we knew would happen eventually. We were hoping for 20 years; it's been 11. So, on one hand, it's a miracle that Matt is alive and the transplant has been successful. On the other hand, I would love 9 more years of a healthy younger brother.

Regardless, the final answer is pending the bloodwork this week. I'll let you know. A million thanks for all your prayers and kind words. Please don't stop! It really helps me to stay strong for him when I know that my blogger friends are thinking about him.


Now, I am joining in with a new meme: Getting to Know You, run by Keely over at MannLand5. Copy the questions below, answer them on your blog, and go to her site to link up!




1. Do you have a fetish?
2. Do you sing in the shower?
3. Who was your first crush?
4. What do you think is the best manly trait a guy could have?
5. Do you sleep naked?
6. What do you do when (you think) no one is looking?
7. What's the first thing you do when you go online?
8. Summer is.....?

My Answers:

1. Do you have a fetish? Sneakers and sundresses. Together.
2. Do you sing in the shower? YES! But not too loud. I save the loud singing for my car - windows down, music up.
3. Who was your first crush? Jeffrey, in kindergarten. He played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with me - I was April and he was always Michaelangelo, my fave turtle.
4. What do you think is the best manly trait a guy could have? Defending himself and his family, both physically and verbally.
5. Do you sleep naked? Not FULLY naked (sorry Tami!)
6. What do you do when (you think) no one is looking? Take my shoes off. I'd rather be barefoot, but it's not very professional to walk around the office without shoes.
7. What's the first thing you do when you go online? Facebook! I'm hopelessly devoted.
8. Summer is.....? So close! I can smell it - BBQ's and creamsicles and sunscreen and campfire smoke.