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!