Randi with an i

12 crafts to do in ’14

January 22, 2014 Randi

Have you guys checked out my friend Caitlin’s blog yet? If not, you should. She’s just getting things up and running, but there’s a reason I call her my twin. We’re a lot alike, so if you dig my posts- odds are you’re gonna love hers as well.

If you haven’t clicked on that link, I’ll fill you in. Caitlin just created a post highlighting her goal crafting projects of the year. I loved the idea. Like almost every 20-something girl, my Pinterest boards are crammed with a million DIY projects I’d love to tackle, yunno, if I had 90 hours in a day.

Caitlin made things a little more manageable by listing the top projects she wants to complete this year, and encouraged me to follow suit.

Wontons of fun

January 16, 2014 Randi

Good news and bad news.

Bad news first? This semester is looking to be rough. I have 16 weeks of PSC 561: American State Government and Administration, 16 weeks of PSC 775: Organizational Theory in Administration and eight weeks of accounting. Yikes. This isn’t my first semester of grad school, but it’s my first full-time semester, with three classes. I’m still holding down my full-time job at the paper and my part-time grad assistantship as well, so I’m super nervous about it. I’ve also started looking into grad schools to obtain my doctorate at, so the pressure’s on!

Now the good news? I’m back to my once-a-week cooking sprees. My first semester of grad school offered me classes every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night for the entire 16 weeks. The second two semesters were a little kinder, with one Tuesday night class for eight weeks, and then a Wednesday night class for eight weeks. Now, I’m going to be seeing Monday night city meetings (oh the life of a reporter), Tuesday night class and Wednesday night class for the next 16 weeks, plus plenty of library study sessions for my online accounting class. This means I’ll likely be cramming a week’s worth of cooking into one Sunday afternoon, and refrigerating and freezing enough pre-cooked food to get me through my 14-hour days. This seemed like an opportune time to kill off the “Food Fridays” feature and focus on more of a day-to-day approach of blogging. I’ll likely be slowing down my crafting as well, so I’m likely to post less often. But– I promise I will substitute quality for quantity if you promise to stick with me.

Last night’s class, surprisingly, only lasted 45 minutes. So I got to spend the extra time doing a bit of make-ahead cooking for today at work. I’m still trying to save money because of the ridiculous amount of Christmas debt my credit card incurred, so I’m trying to do the best I can with what my fridge plays host to right now. Last night’s creations?

All the reasons I love you

January 6, 2014 Randi

Hello! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

I’m not going to lie- this holiday season got a lot busier than I’d expected. I ended up having to pass on some of the really cool DIY gifts I had planned to make, and ended up swapping some of my ideas for some locally-bought products. Food Fridays fell by the wayside too, when I ran out of time to cook. It was a shame, but with work meetings downstate and a crazy work schedule (including working ON Christmas- no lie- I told you I was busy!) I didn’t have much of a choice.

However, shortly after Christmas, I had a nice four-day weekend for working practically non-stop. My good friend Amie and I decided to head to Michael’s to put together some of the crafts on our insane “to craft” lists. Here’s what I came up with.

Vegan stuffed bell peppers

December 20, 2013 Randi

Happy Friday all! Can you believe it’s almost Christmas? Good thing, I’m dying to share some of the DIY projects I’ve been keeping on lockdown lately. Anyway, food. I’ve been on quite a health-kick lately, if you couldn’t tell by the cheesy bacon-y Tater Tot recipe I posted last week. (Kidding!) But– I’ve definitely been amping up my vegetable and citrus intake to ward off sickness season. Jake’s been feeling ill for the past week. Not only have I been super healthy, I’ve also been doing a little more vegan cooking than usual. Green salads, smoothies, cookies… you name it. But since I’m still (technically) on my slow cooker binge, I’ll share with you what I’m having for lunch today.

Cheesy chicken and bacon slow cooker Tater Tot casserole

December 13, 2013 Randi

I couldn’t possibly fit another word into that recipe’s title, could I? This is a recipe for the Jake, since I’m not partial to chicken, bacon or any once-living animal. My stomach just can’t handle it. I’m back to the slow cooker binge after last week’s pause for my Thanksgiving side dish recipe, and this one was apparently a hit.

Jake’s been on quite a Tater Tot binge lately. And for $2 a bag, who can blame him? Unfortunately, Jake isn’t all too creative with his cooking skills, so his Tater Tots are usually served either a. baked with a side of ketchup, or b. baked with shredded cheese on top. So when I stumbled upon a Tater Tot casserole recipe on Pinterest the other day, it was all too perfect.

Wax candle making for beginners

December 9, 2013 Randi

I swear, the hardest part of the holidays (aside from not gaining 20 pounds from all the amazing food) is keeping secrets. I’m absolutely dying to tell everyone what I ~~bought~~ made them for Christmas, and I have a dozen family holiday recipes, but I must remain absolutely hushed about all of it. It’s slowly killing me you guys, seriously.

On that note, my blog’s become a bit more sparse in terms of DIY projects and crafts lately. Everything’s been going on behind the scenes, but I haven’t been blogging in order to keep a lot of these projects top secret. Sorry friends and family! My keyboard is closed. This one’s a spoiler though- take what you can get! These candles are so cute, easy and cheap, and since they’re only a small part of a slew of holiday gift baskets, I figured I could give away a small holiday sneak peek to any friends and family members who read my blog.

Lemon and garlic green beans

December 6, 2013 Randi

I know I said I was on a slow cooker/ Crock Pot recipe binge, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to post this ridiculously easy (and healthy!) side dish I made for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner. As a broke grad student, I’ve always viewed Thanksgiving as a wonderful smorgasbord of free food and leftovers for the next five days. But I decided to do a little less freeloading and a little more contributing this year. I asked my mom what I could bring to my aunt’s house for dinner, and she said that nobody had claimed green beans yet. Either I could take them, she said, or she could. Well, when my mom makes green beans, she cooks them in bacon grease, which is a huge ewwwww from this vegetarian. I told her I’d take over, and here’s what I came up with.

Orange pomander balls

November 29, 2013 Randi

Happy Black Friday! Now that the t(ofu)urkey’s consumed, the Lions have ~~lost~~ won and the 4 a.m. mall madness is over, it’s time to start celebrating my boyfriend’s favorite holiday: Christmas. If he had it his way, we would actually never take down the decorations, and celebrate year round. However, I’m a firm believer that Christmas celebrations don’t start until after Thanksgiving. If you celebrate too much, the holiday isn’t as special! Right?

Anyway. Jake is so Christmas-obsessed that I was surprised he’d never heard of pomander balls! (History lesson alert.) Back when folks didn’t have such great personal hygiene, they would carry around punctured lockets filled with a scented material, such as herbs and ambergris. This was also thought to fight off infection and disease, according to the oh-so-reliable Wikipedia. In modern day, oranges are studded with cloves instead, and the pomander balls are used as wonderfully-scented Christmas decorations. I’ve made them before as a kid in art class, and when Jake told me he’d never heard of them, of course we had to try them out.

Slow cooker root vegetable and lentil stew

November 29, 2013 Randi

It’s a pretty indisputable fact that one of the best winter meals is a thick bowl of warm stew. But, since I’m a vegetarian, I usually pass on the beef and barley and lean toward hearty vegetable based stews. After a bit of trial and error, I’ve melded a few recipes together to create this dish. Since we’re on a slow cooker binge lately, I figured I’d share it with you guys! Root vegetables are always so flavorful, and by the time late fall or winter hits, my parents are finished with the fresh apples and gourds and there’s an abundance of root vegetables resting in the cellar. It’s a great make-ahead dish, so I’ll usually make it on a Sunday, and bring a huge container of it to work with me to lunch on during the busy work week.

Also, when the furnace at my boyfriend’s apartment broke and I suffered through a 47-degree apartment for a weekend, this root vegetable and lentil stew was an absolutely perfect dish.

A cause for celebration

November 26, 2013 Randi

Happy random Tuesday, you guys. I’m a little belated with this post because I’ve been a little busy with work. For those of you who don’t know, my newspaper cut three newsroom positions about a month ago, knocking us down to a staff of six full time reporters, editors, photographers, proofreaders and community engagement editors. Yikes. So I’ve been a bit busy with 60-hour work weeks over here while we try to get a lot of the work shifted around and priorities rearranged. However, I still got to take a nice break and enjoy two weekends ago.

Happy anniversary Jake!