Christmas Break in Africa with Kelsey

All three of us are headed to Kigali Rwanda in two days to spend jus under three weeks with Kelsey! Kelsey has been a long time friend of a family and is like a sister to us. She has been a teacher in a kindergarten classroom the past two years. We are very excited to be able to bring lots of things from home to Kelsey and her roommate and to see Kelsey's life there. We have lots of adventures planned for while we are there!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season where ever they are celebrating!

Grad School Woes

Turns out that a famous saying is true.

"Nothing worth having comes easy."

Dessert:
It was my turn to bring snack to class on Monday. I made everything with a pumpkin theme!

First: No-Bake Pumpkin Cookie Dough Bars

I love the idea of not baking and cookie dough! However these were not as delicious as my expectation lead me to believe. But I will try them again when I am not limited to a dorm size food processor. They would be best served right to the table, because they don't stay firm very long after coming out of the fridge or after thawing.

Second: Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Granola Bars

FAVORITE! These easy to make granola bars were delicious and nutritious. I added some extra dried fruit too. The chocolate and pumpkin go great together

Dinner:
My days have been super long the past few weeks. When I get home from work and classes the last thing I want to do is cook. It's also what gets neglected when I have homework to finish. This morning I hastily put together this soup recipe and let it sit in the crock pot all day. Came home to a wonderful smelling apartment and hot soup!

I added potatoes and substituted veggie chicken, next time I'm adding black beans!

Next week I'm going to attempt zucchini parmesan!

The tough get going!

The demands of graduate school hit me last week. Between class demands, work hours and a tad bit of social life... I was swamped. Needless to say, I have only been able to make one recipe since my previous blog.  But I have decided to hunker down and make ends meet!

Southwestern Quinoa and Black Bean Casserole

This delicious casserole has been quite filling! I enjoy that it has lots of protein in it and that it was an already vegetarian friendly recipe. I definitely suggest cooking in a large pan, and that the beans are a squishy and a little like refried beans before you add the quinoa on top.

Enjoy!

SMAART Goals

Goal: Make a healthy recipe or two each week
Goal: Post unsuccessful and successful cooking attempts bi-weekly


Recipe #1:
Crockpot Bell Pepper Soup

When looking for a recipe to start with I chose this recipe because it had simple ingredients, would be good for left-overs later in the week, and used a crockpot! I modified the recipe to be vegetarian by using Morningstar veggie crumbles instead of beef and vegetable broth instead of beef broth. The soup was fantastic over rice! I highly recommend!

Recipe #2
Refried Beans


Jake gave me a gallon bag of kidney beans last harvest. Since another harvest season is upon us, i figured I should use up last years bag in preparation for another yield. I love refried beans and have frequently use canned beans in my dinners. Making my own refried beans was a simply choice. I recommend this recipe and pureeing the beans before adding them to the onions! After the batch was done I froze most in an ice cube tray. Now I can defrost small portions for making burritos!


Recipe #3
Honey Oat Granola Bars


Yum Yum Yumm! Endless variety! Instead of buying granola bars at the store I decided to try my hand at homemade! I added dried cherries and cranberries and substituted some applesauce for butter. The bars took way longer in the oven than directions estimated, I cooked them for 30 minutes and they still aren't "brown and bubbly." They still taste and smell delicious. After they cooled, I cut into bars and stored in fridge until snacktime!

Amsterdam...the last hooray!

I am currently on the ferry from France to London! My journey is coming to a close. I have been so fortunate to have had this opportunity to travel and experience so much!

I spent the past two days in Amsterdam in the Netherlands! It was a good two last days and a fun city! 

The city is full of canals and bridges. 

Chocolate pancake for dinner with a strongbow cider! The two on the left are my crazy Australian friends! Gotta love them!

In Dam Square in the heart of the city.

The second day we did a bike tour of the city!

Next stop was tour of Heineken brewery! We were helpful to a presenter at tasting so we got too! 

The view from the rooftop balcony was great!

I tried to buy this delicious cheese to bring home to share but I can't get it into the states so sorry family! I tried!

Afternoon snack was fritz! Which is French fries in a cone with sauce on top! I got ketchup!

We ended the night with a river cruise! Above is Casey and Emma from Australia, your guide Kirstin, me and Sarah from Canada!

Today we stopped in Bruge in Belgium for a tour and lunch! I got a Nutella waffle!

I am headed to London now! Two hour bus ride to the city! Then a friend of mine from high school is meeting me and we are grabbing dinner and she is letting me crash at her apartment! Then tomorrow I have a few hours in the city before my flight home:)

I'm almost back in the mitten!

Germany!

On Thursday July 5 we traveled from Venice to Munich! I ate all three meals in a different country! Breakfast was in Venice, lunch was in Austria amongst the alps and dinner was at Hofbrauhaus in Munich!

When we got to Munich we dropped our stuff at the hotel and headed to explore. We saw parts of the main area of Munich before heading to dinner. Here are some shots from dinner at the Hofbrauhaus.

I got spaetzle noodles and they were delicious! It was the German take on Mac and geese!

We also got giant pretzels!

The next day we headed to a castle in the Rhine valley in northern Germany! The views on the way there were again beautiful! When we got to the small town we stayed in we got a demonstration at the coo coo clock shop and the beer stein store. These are things that Germany are famous for.

Next was a river cruise on the seine river. 

 It was a relaxing way to see all the castles, churches and towns along the river!  After the cruise we headed to a castle where we stayed for the night. Our room was on the third floor up a steep set of spiral stairs! 

The view from the castle was beautiful! We could see down the river and the towns below.

We had a chill night playing cards on the open patio and sharing stories with each other. This morning I got up extra early to watch the sunrise. It was kind of behind a mountain but the sky was beautiful!

Today I am headed to Amsterdam! This is our last stop of the tour. I am excited for Amsterdam but also excited to be home and see all my family and friends soon!! 

Gondola ride in Venice!

This post will be mostly pictures from my time in Venice, Italy! 

We stopped in Verona on the way to Venice and saw Juliet's balcony and the oldest colosseum in Italy.

Juliet's balcony

It is good luck to touch her right breast.

We arrived at our hotel late afternoon just in time to get a swim in before dinner.

The pool at our hotel.

There was a pool party that night around the pool. There was live music from a local band. It was a fun night!

The next day we explore Venice!

I was so happy to eat pizza!

We took a gondola ride in the afternoon! It was a fun way to see the city!

 

It was a fun day of exploring Venice! It was very warm but I didn't get sunburned:) Today we are headed to Munich, Germany! The drive there is very scenic through northern Italy! So many vineyards and mountains.

I hope all is well where you are!