Breakfast Salad

So on my days off, I like to make delicious breakfasts. Maybe because when I work, breakfast is some crappy hospital coffee and a few saltine crackers. This breakfast is awesome and helps you get some good veggies and protein in right out of the gate. I'm not sure when I started my love affair with spinach, but it is amazing. Pretty sure five year old me would not approve.

Breakfast Salad

Half a bag of baby spinach

2 slices bacon, chopped

A couple slices of onion, chopped finely

Sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

1 egg

Tear up the spinach leaves and get them ready on a plate. Fry up the bacon and onion together. Throw them on spinach. In the leftover bacon grease (there won't be much, it was only two slices!), fry up your egg. I like mine over medium. Sprinkle some parm on top of your salad. Place the egg on top. I don't use any salad dressing, because the hot bacon and onion kind of wilt the spinach and the runny egg gives it a little moisture. But I bet a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil would be good. This is super yummy!

Happy Wednesday friends!

(And happy seven year dating anniversary to my love, can you believe we still celebrate the anniversary of that late night phone call? We've come a long way baby!)

Why marriage is awesome, according to me

I love being married. Not that I'm trying to rub it in the face of all my single friends. Quite the opposite actually. I feel like marriage has been getting a bad rap these days. The other day on KLG and Hoda, I saw a stat that 2/3 of single people never want to get married. Mostly because they see how a lot of marriages are and don't want that. Every day we see a new celeb divorce. (Heidi and Seal?!? I did not see that one coming!) Obviously after being married for a whole two years, I'm an expert. Ok, I'm still a novice. But honestly, marriage can be awesome. So in honor of Valentine's Day, marriage, love, and my sweet gun-loving, long-haired, hilarious man who is turning 24 on Monday, here is my list of why marriage rocks. In no specific order. (Disclaimer: my husband may not completely agree with this list. But he's not the one making it, is he?)

1. You have someone to put your cold feet up against in bed at night. Now your feet are warm.

2. Instead of doing all the hated household chores yourself, you can delegate them. He takes out the trash, I do the laundry. Win win win.

3. When you make bad jokes or quote lines from movies, someone always laughs.

4. You have someone to take you to the ER after burning yourself while cooking. But not before rolling his eyes that you would do something like that.

5. You get someone to celebrate things with. Like birthdays, paying off student loans, getting through a bad day.

6. You have someone to tell you how awesome you are and how you have the best ideas and that you should be getting paid at least twice as much.

7. Also, you have someone to tell you that your idea was dumb and you need to make a different decision because that one was just really bad. Ouch. Reality check. Have you ever watched an after school special. Come on, you know that's not going to work. (Real words, from my man.)

8. You have someone will to try all your new kitchen adventures. Someone with blatant honesty.

9. You have someone to pray for you and with you. Like when I was in the ER screaming about my pain being 10/10. Or before I'm about to serve something with a vegetable hidden in it.

10. Freedom. I fee like there is a freedom in marriage that wasn't in dating. Like I don't have to spend every waking moment with this man, we get to hang out with other people sometimes and that's ok. We get to have our own jobs and do our own thing sometimes. Because at the end of the day, we are going to be in the same house, in the same bed, in the same life. If we get in a fight, we won't break up. We'll work it out. Because we are married.

11. Office/30 Rock/Parks and Rec/Big Bang Theory+bagel bites+glass of wine. Perfect evening.

12. The same last name. It makes me feel like I'm on a team. And that I'm super awesome at baking stuff.

13. Someone to vent about work to. I like that he knows nothing about what I do. So he can just passively nod and say that I was probably right.

14. You always get the window seat on the plane.  Unless, of course, you are the one always giving up the window seat.

15. Black Friday strategy shopping. As in, you go get this, while I get this. Meet me at 0500 in aisle 15. Go time!


16. Traditions. Like pizza on a Friday night and hating Mizzou. It's the little things.

I feel like this list could go on for a long time. But marriage rocks. So far! Enjoy the throwback pics from my dorm room. I love you, my sweet nerd.

Oh, life. Some lessons are learned the hard way.

The past couple weeks have been full of ups and downs. I want to be all cool and bloggy and show you all the nifty DIYs and recipes that I do all the time. (Oh wait, DIY...that must be someone else.) But this is just life. Baker style.

Our up and down list. Accompanied with photos where appropriate. (I love Instagram, don't you?)

1. Down: my sweet Grandma Frank spent a week in the hospital. She's home now, my mom is there taking care of her. And she is recovering, but there are still some worries about her health. Send up a prayer for her if you think about it!

2. Up: We paid off ALL of our student loans! This felt so amazing. Champagne necessary.

3. Down: The Civic died and we had to tow it. It wouldn't start, even with a jump.

4. Up: The Civic lives on! It just had a super dead battery. 

5. Up: Awesome Friday flowers. Maybe the best ones yet.

6. Up: The discovery of the Green Monster Smoothie. I've seen this on Pinterest and everywhere on the intraweb and decided to make my own version. So so so good! I love getting a serving of fruit and veggies first thing in the morning. 

Green Monster Smoothie

1/2 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt

1 frozen banana, chopped

1 spoonful of creamy peanut butter

Half a bag of spinach (or as much as you want)

1/2-1 cup skim milk (depends how thick you want your smoothie)

A couple ice cubes

Blend on puree setting and then on liquefy to get a nice smooth texture. Serves one.

7. Up: Getting cool points with all my coworkers for wearing blue Chucks with my scrubs. 

8. Down: Chemistry lesson learned the hard way.

So on Wednesday night, I planned to make chicken and dumplings, a Southern delicacy. I made a batch over the weekend but it didn't turn out well. So I went at it again, hoping for some better and blog-worthy results. 

I had a big stockpot full of the boiling chicken broth that needed straining. I decided that a great idea would be to pour it into a glass pitcher and then easily strain it from that. I picked a nice big thick pitcher. I poured my just boiled chicken broth in it. I was almost finished when I heard a loud cracking noise as a the pitcher broke and a gallon of almost boiling water spilled onto me. I said a few choice words, ripped off my pants, and got some cool clothes to put over the burns, which were already blistering. 

Caleb insisted I go to the ER. Note: a pain rating of 10/10 and some juicy red skin gets you in super fast. I got hooked up with some pain pills, silvadene cream, and ice packs. In and out in 45 minutes, impressive. 

Taco Bell and a Smirnoff later, I was feeling much better.

Basically, where the ice packs cover in the pic is where the burns are. Yes, I did take pictures of the burns. No, I will not show them on here. Because that's gross and no one wants to see them.

Bottom line: Do not put boiling water into room temperature glass. I feel like I should have already known this. But I didn't. And now I do.

9. Up: My sweet husband took the day off yesterday to take care of me. He brought me things, dressed my wounds, and did the laundry and dishes. And we spent most of the day watching movies and playing video games. Time well spent.

10: Down: It was my Grandma Voth's vintage glass pitcher. And I loved it.

So today I'm taking my first sick day of my life because I can't really put pants on. Which is kinda lame, but true. Don't worry, I plan on being a real woman tomorrow and going in. 

Oh pants-less life. I bet I'll never forget this one! Happy Friday!

(PS follow me on Instagram, @lorrib)

Christmas in February

Friday, February 3rd was a joyous day. It was the day Caleb finally received his much anticipated Christmas gift. A gun. More specifically, an AR15. It was magical. Tennessee, we embrace your lifestyle completely.

Please note the other gun and knife on his belt. Necessary to protect the homestead.

We went out on Sunday afternoon to shoot her (as in, the gun... guns are girls, were you aware?). Again, magical.

Why yes, that is an old freezer we are shooting at.

He looks so happy.

Ah, Christmas. Extending into February. What could be better?

Now taking ideas for a name for the gun. The other gun's name is Lucille. Again, guns are women. Your suggestions are appreciated.

Recipe post coming tomorrow. In case you aren't really into guns or something.