thai tofu wraps

Lately I've been trying to cook a lot of new recipes because George and I can get stuck in a dinner rut. I follow my sister on Pinterest and a lot of the recipes she pins show up in my news feed. My sister is vegan though, and we are not. However, a lot of her recipes look so good and I make them for dinner in hopes that George will not notice the lack of meat/cheese. I am not vegan or vegetarian, but I really love some of the vegan recipes my sister has made or shared. 

Last night I tried this recipe for Thai Peanut Tofu Salad Tacos. That's a mouthful for me so I just called them Thai tofu wraps. As I was prepping the tofu the night before I was really hoping George wouldn't notice I was cooking tofu. I guess it's a man thing to hate tofu. George was a good sport and tried it... and he loved them! He even had me add the recipe to our "tried and true, let's make it again" recipe list!

I made a few small changes to the recipe to fit our tastes. I used butter lettuce instead of cabbage as the serving vessel and I added a boonie pepper to the salad mix. We like spicy!

12 days of christmas part 2

Here's the second half of the 12 days of Christmas gift ideas.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 7 swans a swimming... I got a pair of swim trunks!

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 8 maids a milking... I went really cheap on this one and got a set of ball markers for golfing that came in a pack of 8.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 9 ladies dancing... George packs a lunch every day for work and in it he packs a little bag of nut mix. He was about out and it just so happens the can comes in 9 ounces, so that's what I got for day 9.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 10 lords-a-leaping... I made George a little coupon for a 10 minute back massage.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 11 pipers piping... George drinks a chai tea latte every morning so I got him a pack of chai tea K-cups and packaged up 11 of them so he could enjoy 11 cups of piping hot chai tea!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 12 drummers drumming... I already used beer for day 6, so I couldn't get him a 12-pack of beer. I did find that golf balls come in a pack of 12, so that's what I got!

So these were my ideas, but there are plenty more ideas out there, or you could always come up with your own!

12 days of christmas part 1

I've never been huge on exchanging presents for Christmas. I feel like a lot of the season is spent running here and there and spending money on things your friends and family may or may not want or need. It all seems impersonal to me. I would much rather have a night together with friends drinking wine and playing games. Take the time to slow down and spend time with one another, instead of racing around to the packed stores just to check off your list of presents to buy. Don't get me wrong, I am not unappreciative of gifts by any means, I just would rather spend time together. Years ago my sister and I decided we wouldn't exchange gifts and when George and I first started dating, we decided the same. 

This year, my friend Hailee wanted to do something cute for our husbands. She had read about the gift giving idea that follows the 12 days of Christmas. She wanted me to go along with her and we could spend time together shopping and planning out the 12 days of gifts. I told her we don't do gifts, but I would go along with it because it meant her and I got to spend time together planning something sweet for our husbands. It also meant a little surprise for George, which didn't require spending a lot of time or money on gifts.

There were tons of websites that had ideas on what to get for each day but I kind of decided to wing it and just let ideas come to me! I also decided to start on December 1st because we will be traveling mid December and I didn't want to lug the gifts with me. Not to mention the time change would mess with which actual "day of Christmas" it was. Here are the gifts I did:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree... I got a shirt from a local clothing company. Nothing too creative (1) shirt for the 1st day.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 2 turtle doves... I got 2 chocolate turtle candies.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 3 french hens... I got wine and fancy cheese to tie in with the "french" theme.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 4 calling birds... I got a DVD with 4 movies on it.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 5 golden rings... I got a tunu gift set. Tunu means BBQ in Chamorro and George loves to BBQ. The kit came with 5 different spices/seasonings.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 6 geese a laying... I got a 6 pack of beer!

These are the first 6 days, tomorrow I'll post about the last 6 days of Christmas!

spicy chipotle hummus

Did you know that you can make hummus at home that's WAY better than store bought aaaaannnnddd it's super easy? Neither did I. Until I bought my food processor and began a search for all recipes involving a food processor. We eat a lot of hummus. It's one of George's favorite snacks to munch on. The only problem is that our selection out here on our tiny little rock, it can be hard to find. Sure, most stores carry it, but they have the very basic flavors: roasted garlic, plain and sometimes roasted red pepper. 

We like spicy. Lots and lots of spicy. So I decided to try and make hummus from scratch. And you know what? It's so easy and so yummy. Way better than store bought. The best part is you can make whatever flavor you're craving. There's no end to the possible flavor combinations! We've tried several, but so far this is our favorite one.

Ingredients

1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans

2 TBSP tahini

1/2 bunch of cilantro (about a handful)

3 chipotle peppers in adobo

1 large garlic clove

juice from 1 small lime

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp cumin

salt to taste

water to thin (if needed)

Directions

Throw everything in a food processor and blend! You may need to add a little water to get the hummus to the consistency you like. 

Serve with pita chips, veggies, a spoon... whatever you want!

happy thanksgiving

I've got several pots of potatoes cooking for mashed potatoes this afternoon, so this post will be short and to the point! Thanksgiving is about being thankful. Today, I am most thankful for my husband, and the opportunity we've been given to live on the most perfect little island. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

new website

So I haven't been blogging much lately because I've been working quite diligently on my photography. I finally have a real website, it's up and running! Go check it out, Engleheart Photography! I also had a little postcard project going. My landlord told me about a postcard auction for local artists next month. I had been thinking about making postcards ever since we moved out here and this was finally the kick I needed to do it. I picked out 5 of my favorite images of Guam and designed some postcards! I am now offering the postcards in sets of 5. I also donated 3 to the auction next month, so it'll be fun to see how that goes!

my postcards

george's dirty thirty

This past weekend I threw a party for George's birthday. He turns 30 this week and we decided to have a bbq at our place to celebrate. We made Filipino style chicken with a homemade marinade, grilled pineapple, homemade fried rice, roasted asparagus and of course birthday cake! We also had George's favorites pineapple salsa and chipotle hummus for appetizers. Of course we also had a bunch of refreshments, and my Tom Collins were a hit, we drank almost the whole pitcher! The cake turned out amazing too! I made a white cake with homemade coconut buttercream and had fresh strawberries between the cake layers. So yummy! Quite a few of our friends showed up and we had fun playing Cards Against Humanity. My friend won the first round, and I won the second! It was such a fun night!

yummy strawberries

"happy 30th jorge!"

fancy little table scape

the makeshift bar area

homemade tomato sauce

There's something so gratifying in making a dish from scratch. Even more so when it's something that everyone buys pre-made. Like tomato sauce. I never ever thought it make my own until this summer. While visiting California my dad made his own tomato sauce. Of course I asked how to make it and it turned out to be really easy and really fool proof. I love those recipes. 

Since I got a food processor recently, I have been trying to make meals that require using it. As I was thinking of things to make with it, I remembered the tomato sauce my dad made and decided to give it a try. You can really customize your recipe and alter the ingredients or the amount of each ingredient to your tastes. It really is simple! Here is my version of homemade tomato sauce.

Ingredients

1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped

1 small shallot, roughly chopped

1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped

1 large clove of garlic, cut in large chunks

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes

8-10 fresh basil leaves

1/4 tsp fresh thyme

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

salt & pepper to taste

splash of water

browning the onion mixture will add a little depth of flavor to your sauce

Directions

In a heavy bottom skillet, sauté the onion, shallots and bell pepper in the olive oil. Allow them to brown slightly. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. 

Add the tomatoes and fresh basil to the skillet and turn the heat to low. Allow the mixture to simmer for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally. You will probably need to add a splash of water if your sauce is getting too thick. You can also simmer the sauce all day, just make sure to add a splash of water every once in a while to maintain the desired consistency.

what the sauce looks like after simmering 

Once the mixture has simmered and all the veggies have gotten soft, remove the pan from the heat. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Once it's cooled, transfer the sauce to a food processor and blend to smooth out the sauce. Return the sauce to the pan and add the thyme, red pepper flakes and salt & pepper.

It's done! Add it to any dish that uses tomato sauce! I added ground sausage and made spaghetti with it. You could also use it plain on noodles, in lasagna, or even in chicken parmesan. 

simple and delicious

wedding wednesdays - a guam bride

A couple weeks ago I mentioned attending our first guam wedding. Before the wedding, I picked up the bride and took her to her hotel room and hung out while she got ready. Her wedding photographer wouldn't get there until right before the wedding so I brought my camera and snapped a few of her getting ready. She was a gorgeous bride and unfortunately I don't have any photos of her once she's all dolled up. I do have a few of my favorites to share. The lighting in the hotel room was fantastic!

veteran's day

I've served with some pretty amazing people during my career and I would love to list them all, but you know who you are. I want to wish a happy Veteran's Day to not only all those great people I've worked with, but to all veterans, past and present. 

This morning I went searching for a photo of myself in uniform for my Facebook profile picture. Most people I know that have served, will change their profile picture to one of them in uniform for the day. Unfortunately, the only one I could find at first had been "edited" to add some humor to our day years ago by my coworker. I saw it and laughed my ass off because it reminded me of all the random things we used to do. Sara and I were work besties and we had some pretty good times at work. Since we worked on base, we would always get Veteran's Day off work. We would spend the day down in Roseville shopping and eating at our favorite sushi restaurant. It was our annual tradition that ended once she moved away last year. Since I'm feeling nostalgic, here's a few pictures I dug up...

Sara and I working at our unit's Thanksgiving party

George worked it too! Isn't he cute in the kitchen??

We did actual work too, not just lots of cooking for work parties!

Sara and I working. This pic was featured in the Year in Pictures in Air Force Magazine!

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

tagachang beach

Even though Guam is such a small island, there are so many beaches. We haven't even explored half of them. This past Saturday I went out with a group of friends to a new beach, Tagachang Beach. It's off the beaten path so you don't have to battle with crowds of tourists. We were just about the only ones there. The beach itself has nice sand with a little bit of grass and a few covered areas with tables. There's a reef that protects the beach so there is a nice area for swimming. It was pretty rough the day we went, but if it was calmer, the reef would allow for a perfectly calm swimming area. The day we went was perfect for a long beach day. It was cloudy so we weren't burning up in the Guam sun, yet it didn't rain on us. Perfect! 

looking north from the beach

looking south from the beach

right before we left, the blue skies came out

busy bee and butter lettuce

I have been such a busy little bee lately. It's hard to imagine feeling so busy without having a job, but it happens. I feel like the past week or so has been go, go, go. I've been putting a lot of time into my photography and I think I've learned a lot. I have a new project that has been a few weeks in the making, which I hope to announce soon and just snapping away in general. I've also been helping out a friend who's wedding pictures did not turn out so well. Thankfully, with my mad skillz (kidding) I was able to try and salvage a few her guests had taken. 

 I've also spent lots of time on things that don't benefit me as much, like searching for butter lettuce. Tonight we had some friends over for dinner and I was planning on making lettuce wraps, but couldn't find butter lettuce. I went to 2 commissaries, 3 Payless stores and a Cost-U-Less. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Hell, one Payless literally had 70% of their produce section empty. I'm not talking "empty" as in a few items, I'm talking empty. As in the bins had been removed and there were just gapping holes where green onions, lettuce and peppers had once been. 

rest in peace, produce. rest in peace.

wedding wednesdays - our 1st wedding anniversary

the flowers George sent me

Our first wedding anniversary was this past September. The 28th, to be exact. Unfortunately, we were over 6,000 miles apart for it. I was in California and George was still gone on a work trip, so we didn't get to celebrate together until we both got back to Guam. He did however, conspire with my best friend, Casey, to deliver me flowers at my parents' house the day of our anniversary! 

the view from our room, the bay is so pretty

Once we both were back on island, we did a staycation to celebrate. We stayed 2 nights at the Hyatt, the same hotel we began our relationship 3 years ago. We have a hotel package that gives us free hotel stays, discounted meals and free bottles of wine so our hotel stay was free! 

anniversary cake!!

The first night we got dressed up and had dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel, Al Dente. It was so good! The server let us use 2 of our free wine bottle coupons, instead of just the one. Score! The food was really good and so was the service. Our server even brought us a little happy anniversary cake!

nice calm waters for paddle boarding

The next day we walked down the beach and rented some paddle boards. We had wanted to try it since we moved out here but never got around to it. They are so much fun! We would love to be able to own some one day. That night we walked down the street to our favorite pizza place and then got desserts at the cafe in the hotel.

our last day by the pool

Our last day there, we laid out by the pool for a few hours before headed home. It was such a pretty day. The sky was really clear and the air slightly drier than normal. We really love the Hyatt and their pool, it's always so relaxing! So while it wasn't ideal to spend our first wedding anniversary apart, it was nice to have an almost free staycation at our favorite place!