B's career

I got a new-ish job. Same people, different work. It's tolerable, but nowhere near as fun as being a nanny. We couldn't afford me being a nanny anymore, Dallin goes to school in the fall, and we needed benefits, so I had to quit :-( I'm over the new job, which has led me to contemplate "Things that would actually make money that B wouldn't mind doing on a regular basis". The job itself is ok. I'm the "Super helper" which basically means anyone can boss me around at any time, and I get paid lots of money to do it. There was a riff last week because one employee was hogging me. *sigh*. It's also micro-management central. But I'm really just over working lame jobs. So that has brought me to trying to realistically dream about the future. We've had tiny glimpses of our business being able to make enough money to support us, but for the time being, I am not putting all of my eggs in that basket. So here's what I would love/tolerate for the future.

-If money and age were not a problem, I would be a dancer. Since that is not looking viable, I took a Zumba class this semester, and it was amazing. My Zumba instructor, who I semi-worship, told me I should become an instructor. And don't worry, I wouldn't be a very good "Traditional Zumba" instructor. It'd be more like semi-choreographed Matt and B dance party moves. But that's not really a career in these parts, more like just a way to get paid to work out. So that would be a side job. And I will never do it in a neon sports bra with hoop earrings to Latin Techno. More like plaid leg warmers and a Flashdance style sweatshirt to Flogging Molly.

-This is just funny/sad. I recently got bullied into becoming a Mary Kay consultant. BEFORE YOU JUDGE ME, hear me out. My skin had hit rock bottom. It depressed me every time I looked in the mirror. It was distracting to Matt. Everything I tried wasn't working, and I tried SO MANY things. Matt and I decided that I could invest in some good skin care stuff, and my friend, the consultant, called me to tell me Mary Kay was half off, so I decided to try their stuff. It worked, and has continued to work. But she wasn't happy with just selling me stuff, and I'm terrible at saying "Back off!!". So, many details omitted later, it turns out that in April the starter kit was $50 instead of $100, and it had a few hundred dollars worth of "product" in it, including the entire skin care line I've been using, some nice mascara/foundation, etc. I went for it, nicely told her to get off my back, and have since been giving away all of the extra product (Bronze #5 anyone?) and throwing away the startling amount of propaganda that they've been sending me. I will never ever ever go forward with this because the very thought of being pushy makes me want to curl up in a corner and die. I'm much more of a Ben than a Dan :-)

Oh, this is also funny/sad. I've been measuring all of my future careers based on 2 things; Would my mother want to do it, and will it be a useful skill when the end of the world comes. Really great benchmarks, I know. If my mother would like it, it's out of the question. That's why the two at the top of the list are interior design (which my mother would hate, it's too impractical) and accounting (the one form of math that I'm good at and my mother hates). I would love to make everything more beautiful and efficient, but really, how useful is that going to be in a post-apocolyptic world? And accounting, I really wouldn't mind as long as I didn't have to work with too many stupid people. That's another benchmark; How many stupid people would I have to deal with on a regular basis.

-I still have a scholarship that I could activate in order to attend the University of Wyoming for close to nothing, and I looked and there is an accounting program online, whereas all of the interior design stuff is far away/expensive. I've already missed the registration deadline for the fall, but for the time being (i.e. the next 2 weeks) I am going to go forward with hopes of getting a degree in accounting.

That felt good to get out of my head.

I like makeup.

It makes me look human.

Stress isn't good for B's skin.

Food superblog!!!

All right, I am just going to knock this bipper out because it's been a while since we ate some of these, and there are so many good ones!!

Wraps!

These wraps are just refreshing and yummy. Tortillas, hummus, cukes and guac. Also good with lettuce and tomatoes. Here's a super easy hummus recipe.

• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained, liquid reserved
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Just blend together in a food processor or blender. If it needs more liquid, add the garbanzo bean juice. It's a little bland, and a little garlicky, so I've started buying organic hummus, which is super good and creamy. But this works in a pinch! 

Another good wrap (that I don't have a picture for) is this.

Corn tortillas

Black beans, mashed and heated up with cumin, chili powder and cilantro

Green peppers

Sour cream

Guacomole

Salsa or tomatoes

SO GOOD! 

Blueberry cornmeal pancakes, dedicated to all of the pancake loving babies out there. 

This is probably the best recipe I've found so far. They're pretty dense, and stick with you, and just have such good texture and flavor! I use frozen blueberries, and then buy the ugly bananas at the store and freeze them, they're perfect for this. I just thaw them in the microwave. 

1/3 C. yellow cornmeal

2/3 C. whole wheat flour

1/2 C. frozen blueberries (I add lots more because I LOVE bluebabies!)

1/2 C. milk

1 mashed ripe banana

1 egg

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

More milk if too thick

Don't mix too much!

Pita pockets! Such good flavor!  

Pita bread

Hummus

Filling (chop everything pretty small)

10-12 Kalamati olives (I bet regular olives work just fine)

3-4 leaves Romaine lettuce

1/2 green pepper

1/3 cucumber

3-4 slices of pickled beets

1-2 Tbsp. Balsamic vinegar

Smoky veggie chili and cornbread

This is wonderful, but a TON of food for 2 people. The cornbread was a little overdone, so I'd cook it shorter at first. Also, slice the sweet potato really small because it doesn't break up very much in the cooking process. Also, I have this buttermilk powder that saves my bacon because it's always called for so randomly, and sometimes I don't get a recipe done when I want to :-) One more thing... greek yogurt doesn't seem like much more than snobby sour cream. 

Asparagus, leek and swiss quiche 

First of all, a good swiss cheese is a substitute for the gruyere which is MASSIVELY EXPENSIVE!! 

Second, you can substitute some milk for some half and half to make it a little less fattening. 

Third, add more veggies and take out some of the egg mixture to make it healthier. I used a different crust recipe. It was a little tough, but pretty dang good. This makes an EXCELLENT breakfast!! 

Last, but certainly not least, are our snacks! Courtesy of greenereating.com (thanks for the tip Em). These are vegan recipes, which I de-veganify by just using eggs and milk, etc. The cherry chocolate chip snack bars freeze well, and are very filling, and good for my sweet tooth. I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to add the water that goes along with the egg replacer, so I added it, and they were pretty dang moist, which we both liked. 

The "CRUNCHY BANANA EOUNEGNI PPLESAUCE MUFFINS" (see Matt's GoPro test video on YouTube or Facebook) are a new FAVORITE!!!! Even DALLIN the pickiest eater on EARTH enjoys these. They're nothing too special, but they have just the right amount of all the good stuff, and I love the oat-ey texture. Again, I just microwave the frozen brown bananas, and otherwise I have all of the ingredients on hand. I'm not sure if these freeze well or not because between the Fab family and Matt and I, we've eaten 3 dozen since last week. They're a perfect quick breakfast, pre-Zumba snack, mid-morning snack, B'sexperimentingwithanewrecipeandit'stakingalongtime snack, etc.  

These are definitely all recipes we want to repeat, and some that we have repeated quite a few times! 

Bon Appetit!!