Savory Sundays: Greek Islands Steak Salad

Yesterday I told you guys how excited I was for tomorrow because it will be my first rehearsal with a local youth symphony, and I kinda jabbered on and on and on about that. So today I’ll try to talk about something else.

Last week I did a vlog showing all the awesome things that I ordered from Pampered Chef, but it was kinda long because I hadn’t done a vlog in a few days and wanted to catch you all up on everything! Well yesterday my dad and I kept going back and forth on what to make for dinner, and I told him it had to be something I hadn’t shared with you all yet because I am a procrastinator and hadn’t made anything for today’s post… >_> We finally decided on this super yummy steak salad, and I realized it was the perfect opportunity to use my new bamboo bowls I got in my Pampered Chef order!

**** Quick aside, if anyone is interested in ordering Pampered Chef, my sister sells it and I’m sure she would love to help you out! You can e-mail me (my e-mail is on my “About Me” page) and I’ll direct you to her ****

The bowls are seriously so great, and I’m really glad I got them because my dad and I have been eating anything that requires a bowl out of these really really tiny cereal bowls that we have, and I was sick and tired of it! And with summer coming up these are great for holding a salad, or eating ice cream! You know, typical summer-y things, right? hehe

I really loved this salad though, and my dad loved how easy it was for him! He could sit out by the grill, talk on the phone, and drink a glass of wine while I did all the “hard” work (as he put it) in the kitchen preparing the salad.

In the recipe book I got it from it says “Chopped kalamata olives and pepperoncini peppers add depth and authenticity to this hearty salad’s dressing.” and it’s true. The pepperoncini’s added a nice acidity to the salad, but was balanced out by the olive oil in the dressing. My perfect bite of this salad included some steak, some salad, and some feta cheese! It was a really nice balance, and tasted so good!

So here’s another super yummy salad for you all to add to your summer recipe collection. I hope you enjoy it as much as my dad and I did!

<3 and harp strings,
Kate

Savory Sundays: Citrus-Butter Shrimp Toss

Me playing my harp at a senior assisted living center.

Is it seriously Sunday already?? Really?! I just can’t accept this. The other day it was FRIDAY! As in the start of my weekend. Yesterday was spent getting my business cards ready and volunteering an hour of my time to play the harp at a local senior assisted living center (which was awesome btw, but my day was seriously spent doing that and homework. And baking/writing yesterday’s Sweet Saturday post) And now the calendar is telling me that all of a sudden I have school tomorrow? This is completely unacceptable. Someone really needs to re-write the damned calendar to give us at LEAST one more day in the weekend. At least.

I had such a blast volunteering my time yesterday, and I can’t wait to go back to play for them on Mother’s Day

But, since that’s not going to happen, no matter how much I beg (maybe I’m not talking to the right people? hmm…) I guess going to the beach with friends will have to make up for it all.

On the off chance that you guys are upset about it being Sunday already, I made you a delicious meal to take your mind off the entire thing. How does this magical meal do this you ask? Simple. It’s flavor is so delicious it completely takes your mind off everything except for how awesome this meal is. And by awesome, I mean seriously awesome!

If you don’t believe me, you’ll just have to make it yourself. And when you do, let me know if it’s a dish you’re going to make over and over again, because I know I am!

I really hope that you all are enjoying the rest of your weekend before we all get back to the “awesomeness” (yay sarcasm! hehe) that is the work week!

<3 and harp strings,
Kate

Savory Sundays: Loaded Baked Potato Chowder

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year! Since it’s a new year, I’m going to share some fun facts about 2012!

Fun Facts!

• 2012 is the year of the Dragon — I don’t personally know anything about Chinese Astrology {other than I was born in the year of the Snake}, but I thought it was interesting!
• December 21, 2012 is supposed to be the “end of the world” according to the Mayan calendars — I don’t buy that for one second. My history professor last semester was talking about it when we were studying the Mayans and I have to agree with him. The Mayans had certain times on the calendars that were bad luck {or something like that, an omen or something}, and December 21, 2012 is one of those times. So yeah, something “bad” may happen {maybe something as bad as a whole bunch of people fail tests or trip simultaneously or something, I dunno} but I think we’ll all still be around to see Christmas and New Years. But maybe I’m just crazy??
• July 27 – August 12, 2012 are the Summer Olympics, hosted in London — I’m more of a Winter Olympics type of girl, but it’s cool to know that the Olympics are just around the corner!

So… I ran out of fun facts that I could easily find on the internet. Sad day… But, I s’pose that means I can tell you about my super fun/exciting way I spend New Years Eve?

And by “super fun/exciting” I really mean “really lame because I have no life”.

TJ and I stayed home, just the two of us. My Dad is still out in Texas until tomorrow, and I didn’t have any awesome parties to go to because my life is just that exciting at the elderly age of 22 apparently.

{*sarcasm* jealous yet?}

He made yummy Chicken Alfredo while I read Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz {the first in his Frankenstein series}. While we ate, we watched Storage Wars: Texas, because as I said, I’m a super LAME-O. Then we headed back to the office and continued to level our characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Exciting, right?

Then, when it was midnight, TJ and I kissed. It would have been romantic except for the part when I started sobbing like a baby on his shoulder. I don’t even know where the sadness about my mom came from. It completely blind-sided me and turned me into a blabbering baby…

But that quickly passed and we returned to our game.

Christmas Vacation in Full Swing

My Christmas vacation is finally in full swing! The past two days I’ve spent exactly how I’ve been waiting all semester to spend… staying up late, sleeping in late, and lots and lots of gaming!

TJ is here until January 2nd, when he has a late evening flight back up to Northern Cali so he can get back to work on January 3rd. But until then, it’s just he and I and the animals at the house because my Dad left early this morning to visit my sister and her fam in Texas.

It’s so nice to be able to spend a lot of time with him, and it’s made me realize how much I miss waking up next to him in the mornings. Unfortunately, we’re both crammed into my twin-size bed… and he’s 6’2″!! Poor guy haha

Yesterday TJ and I managed to get to 27 {my toon} and 26 {for his toon}. I play a Twi’lek Sith Sorcerer {Corruption spec… aka I’m a healer!} and TJ plays a Chiss Powertech {Advanced Prototype spec… aka he does uber deeps!}.

This is my Sith Sorcerer, Anira. Sorry the picture quality sucks, I had to take a picture of my computer screen with my camera =3

Today we have finally finished up quests on Nar Shadaa {with the exception of the bonus quests} and just got to Tatooine, the lovely desert planet.

Once again, sorry for the picture quality... =3

If you play video games/Star Wars, I really recommend playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. This game really pulls you in with the interactive cinematic stories, and helps you build a connection with your character with the light or dark side choices you can make with the quests.

So, other than playing video games, TJ and I have been eating leftovers from Christmas dinner. I decided to turn them into yummy Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches, just like my mom used to do with leftover roast beef, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

Sorry I’m not posting any recipes yet, but I do have some stuff waiting to be posted, but I’m saving them for the weekend So you all will just have to be patient with me!

I hope you all are spending your Christmas/Winter breaks well!

♥ and harp strings,
Kate

How are you spending your Christmas/Winter break? What are you doing with your leftovers from Christmas dinner?

Savory Sundays: Cottage Pie

Welcome to my first every Savory Sundays post! This will be a great way for me to really force myself to try new things and you all will *hopefully* be benefiting from it!!

Speaking of benefiting, you are about to learn 2 things.

I’m a college student, so I do lots of learning at school, so I’d like to share some knowledge with you.

However, neither of these things were learned at school.

First, Cottage Pie is simply Shepard’s Pie, but with beef instead of lamb.

Did you know that? Because I didn’t before I stumbled across this entry about a super delicious Cottage Pie recipe over at Tasty Kitchen.

Now you’ve learned one thing. Time for the second thing.