Tag Archives: random

It’s a Little Known Fact #wheniwasyounger

I guess I’m dating myself using that title. Of course, if you immediately thought of Cliff Clavin when you read it, you are admitting your age as well 🙂

I have had some pretty cool opportunities in my life so far. Here are some interesting things – aka little know facts – you might not know about me…
I’ve placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
  • I’ve been interviewed on both local news and a national television show about university opportunities via the internet.
  • I met Hillary Rodham Clinton in the First Lady’s Rose Garden.
  • I was once an action hero (not quite, but there was a character on a TV show with my maiden name – http://soldiersofthefuture.wikia.com/wiki/Jennifer_Chase)
  • Zack and I were ‘models’ for a bridal and formal wear shop on a local TV show
  • I’ve been on the cover of a magazine.
You’ll have to take me at my word for most of these, as they were pre-digital cameras and the photos are back in the states. But I do have proof of the last one. Here I am, cover model at age 3 1/2 for a local cable television magazine 🙂
I would love to hear some of our readers’ little-known-facts!
Have a great weekend!

Pinterest, and a few of our favorite things

Sometimes the blog becomes my spot for confession.You may recall that in the past I’ve shared my strong attraction to things like

  • Coffee (read that here. and here.)
  • Pizza (read about that here. and here.)
  • Chocolate (read about that here)
And now it’s time to admit one more. I’m here to share that I am addicted to really like Pinterest. A lot.
Pinterest has been our source for a lot of new meals, home remedies, restaurant copycat recipes, and homemade versions of things I can’t find in Norway. I’ve learned to improvise on things we miss from the states, and find healthy alternatives to some of our favorites. And of course, the occasional guilty pleasure is included as well!
One of my Pinterest boards is entitled Pinterest Success, where I save all the things that have received positive reviews from some pretty tough critics…
I thought I’d share a few of of our favorites, and ask if you have any Pinterest success stories to share.
Our Top Five Favorite Pinterest Finds, in no particular order
  1. Avocado Chicken Burgers: we all love avocados. And chicken. So this was a no-brainer. I didn’t have any breadcrumbs so I made some using a couple of slices of my homemade bread (see item #3 below). These were great!
  2. No-mayo Tuna Salad: Zack and I like tuna, but we don’t like mayo. Because of this, we’d never made tuna salad. But thanks to this great recipe, we make it often and really enjoy it!
  3. Peasant Bread: like I’ve talked about in a previous post (here), I make most of our bread from scratch these days. And peasant bread is my go-to recipe. I bake it in a bread pan instead of a bowl, and I change up the types of flour or throw in some seeds or herbs, depending on what’s on hand.
  4. No-yeast No-rise Cinnamon Rolls: here’s one of those guilty pleasures I mentioned. These are not at all healthy (although I do replace some of the white flour with whole wheat). But they are incredible!
  5. Sloppy Joes on Cornbread Waffles: I’m now learning there are lots of non-traditional ways to use your waffle iron. But our first adventure was a HUGE hit with the whole family. I made a healthy sloppy joe mix, with lots of diced veggies and ground chicken. Then we put that on top of waffles made with corn bread batter. Delicious!
What are some of your favorites – or maybe even disasters – from Pinterest?
Here are a just few Pinterest-inspired projects and recipes we’ve tried over the last couple of years…
Easter bunnies & Easter chicks
Coffee filter snowflakes
Paper chain Christmas trees
Peanut butter & jelly muffins
Grinch Christmas cookies
Homemade black bean burgers on
homemade wholewheat buns
Cranberry Sauce
Oven-grilled burgers on homemade buns
No-yeast No-rise cinnamon rolls
Peasant bread

Pizza. Summer. Life is good.

We made pizza for dinner tonight.

That’s not so unusual. We do that a lot. Really. A LOT. Yeah, we love pizza.
You know what made it even better? Check out what I’m wearing: shorts and no sleeves! Summer has arrived and the weather has been great. It reached around 26 C / 79 F today! We’ve even had a number of afternoon showers and thunder storms, much like we would have in Georgia.
Only a week and a half of school stands between us and our official start to summer, we are ready!

The Easter Bunny? PÃ¥skeharen?

Daniel made an Easter Bunny at school on Thursday.Really cute – and maybe a little scary 😉

They traced their own feet to make the ears and legs. I have a feeling his bunny had the longest ears in all of second grade. He may not be tall, but the boy has some big feet!