Munchie Mondays: Pico de Gallo Salad

I'm finally getting back into the habit of blogging, which means Munchie Mondays are back! Tonight I invented something quite awesome and I was so excited to share it.

Being pregnant means I need a lot of protein, which can be tough since I try to eat somewhat vegetarian. So I'm always experimenting with recipes to come up with non-animal flesh alternatives. On this particular Monday evening I concocted a Pico de Gallo salad. It was the bomb. Even my husband, who is an old fashioned meat and potatoes kind of guy, said it was great. Here's the recipe!

Pico de Gallo Salad:

Pico-

4 Tomatoes 

1/2 Jalapeno Pepper

1/2 Red Onion

2 Cloves of fresh Garlic (or if you're like me and you don't have patience for fresh garlic, garlic powder to taste works too)

Cilantro

Lime Juice

Salt, Pepper

Dice tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, and toss in a bowl. Chop cilantro and add as much as you like. Add lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste.

Salad- 

Organic Spring Mix

Black Beans

Avocado

Cheddar Cheese (optional)

Make a bed of the spring mix and sprinkle with black beans. Add however many chunks of avocado you like. Spoon the Pico de Gallo over salad bed and top off with cheddar cheese if you like.

Happy Monday everyone!

It's Just One of Those Days...

Since I'm pretty much convinced that nobody reads my blog, I'm going to abuse my power and use the blog as a sort of "journal" today. Not that I'm complaining, or whining. Just sayin'. 
Today has just been one of those days. It's overcast and windy outside, and I got almost no sleep last night. Being pregnant does strange things to one's body, and if one is already an insomniac... well, you get the picture. 
So I awoke today knowing that I would be presented with the initial challenge of just trying to stay awake all day. Coffee helped a bit, and talking to my dear mommy added even more pep to my step. Then I went to work. (Que sinister laugh)
For those of you who have ever worked in food service for more than a week will understand me when I say that there are some days when you want to come home and cry. Not because you are upset at any particular person or event, just that crying might help get the madness of the day out of your system. That was my day. 
(Vent alert) I really think there should be laws about how many delivery and catering orders a restaurant can legally accept in a day. Also, please remember to tip your server next time you eat out, no matter how simple the service- that is how they pay their rent.
Okay, I feel a little better.
My one creative consolation is a little project I've been working on. A friend of mine is having a baby shower this weekend and in the spirit of industrial homemaking gifting I decided to make baby leg warmers for the soon-to-be-existent little one. I've already finished one, just a few more rows to knit on the second one. Let's see if I get these things finished by Saturday morning...
Thank you to whoever has stumbled upon my temporary emotional outlet. I promise I won't use my blog for this all the time.

I'm a Bad Blogger

Hello Bloggisphere! I'm so sorry I've been absent. I'm a bad blogger. But as part of the Thanksgiving resolution, I am going to try to get better. 
I do have a good excuse for my absence, though. I had started school and it was taking up oodles of my time. Then, about two weeks into the semester, Derek and I got a little surprise- I'm pregnant! It was a bit of a shock at first, and it took a while for us to adjust to the idea, but we are very excited about becoming parents. I'm now three months along and things are going well. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time a couple of weeks ago and it was so amazing. Up until then I had sort of just been "pretending" that I was pregnant, but hearing the heartbeat and knowing that there really is a small person in there made things so much more real and exciting. 
I ended up putting school on the back-burner. I had been suffering from really nasty morning sickness for the first 12 weeks, and I kept missing classes and crunching to try to meet deadlines. God convicted me and I realized that it's not about me anymore. I was spending more time reading text books and no time reading about pregnancy and getting geared up for baby. Besides, school will always be available if I want to go back, and this way I will have more time to focus on exploring creative outlets I've been wanting to be better at. 
Anywhoo, now that things are less stressful, I have time to get back into blogging. I've got lots of great ideas for projects, artsy stuff, and recipes to test in the kitchen. So stay tuned everybody, Aria's back!

100 Things to Do On a Saturday

So with the purchase of the new car, Derek and I decided to revamp our finances and really get a handle on our budget. Since I want to try to be the helpful little wife, I started looking for ideas of fun things we can do with very little money. Guess what I found? The Simple Dollar posted 100 Things to Do On a Money-Free Weekend- very cool! Hope this inspires some of you, I will definitely be trying some of these out. Hope everyone has a nice long weeked, happy Labor Day!

Checking In

Hello Blogishpere! I've been on radio silence for a while, my apologies. Things have been cuh-ray-zee busy around here. I've been working part time, which doesn't sound like much but when you're on your feet for four or fives hours it's nice to come home and prop your feet up and do nothing for a bit. Then to make things more interesting, school started last week! I'm so glad, I really missed being a college student. I'm taking some super heavy-hitter classes this semester, including an 8-week math class. Math and me go together like sandpaper and bare butt (like how I used a quote from "Definitely, Maybe"?). I failed this class about a year ago, but it wasn't accelerated. So this year, I am determined to get through the class- with my sanity in tact, if possible. 
Ooh! I have more good news: I got a new car!!! It's so pretty and shiny and new and I love it. It's a 2002 Toyota Highlander Limited. Limited means tricked out. I'll post pics soon (my camera has been acting funny, otherwise I'd have a whole photo shoot devoted to my new ride). 
Okay, I just got back from doing some studying at school so I'm tired and ready to settle in with the hubby to watch "Mad Men". Hope you all are having a good week!

Happy Monday

Hey all! (Whoever "all" is; I don't think anyone is actually reading this blog, haha)
This past weekend was a busy one, and now it's time to get into Monday. I'm wiped out. I went to bed at 9:30 last night and I'm still exhausted. 
Derek and I transferred to a different apartment over the weekend. We're still in the same complex, just a new unit. The old one wreaked of cigarette smoke, so we have moved into a newer, cleaner spot. The new place has the same layout as the old one, but it's reversed. So I'm not sure if I want to keep all the furniture and decor in the same places or shift things around... I don't know, we'll see.
One thing I did learn through this whole thing is that I hate moving. Packing is tedious. Moving stuff is hard, and unpacking is no fun. But thankfully we had lots of help so things went quickly. Plus we only moved three doors down-literally. I can't imagine what it will be like when we move to a house. Yikes. However, I feel like I'm ready for a house. Like I'm ready to find a little place that we can settle into and make our own. *Sigh* someday...
I will try to post later about something food related. Once I make my way through the maze of boxes and crap :(

Ovens

The day has come to an end and I will soon be crawling into bed to have a snuggle fest with my pillows. Today was kind of uneventful. I did learn something new, though: how to clean an oven. Derek and I are transferring to a different apartment because our current one wreaks of cigarette smoke. Neither of us are smokers, so it really bothers us; we've been suffering from headaches and sinus crap. Boo. Anywhoo, like I said we're transferring to a different unit. We have to clean our "old" apartment, and because I can see the potential for procrastination, I decided to go ahead and tackle some of the bigger tasks before the big move this weekend. So today I cleaned the oven. Yikes. We've only been in this place for six months- how on earth did we manage to gunk up the oven that much? I was having quite a bit of trouble using regular cleaner spray and scrubber. Thank god for Google, otherwise I'd probably still be at it. The key is baking soda and vinegar. Put some hot water on the dirt and stuff and then sprinkle with baking soda. Let it sit for a bit, then put some vinegar on it (yes, this will create that cool chemical reaction that we learned about in elementary school), then use a scouring sponge. Much better. Apparently if you let the baking soda sit for a few hours, add the vinegar and let that sit for about and hour stuff will just wipe off. I didn't want to wait that long (I like doing things the hard way sometimes; don't judge me, it builds character). Now we have sparkling oven, yay. 
Good night, sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite!

PJ Party

Hello all. Hope that you had a terrific Tuesday (I know that's corny). Today was a nice day. I slept horribly last night, so I was a complete zombie all morning. Just ask my husband, Derek- he left me in shlumped heap on the couch; bless his heart, he's always sweet enough to make me coffee before he heads off for work. So anyways, I sipped on coffee and watched "30 Rock" until it was time for me to get ready for work. After work, I went to visit my grandma; she's had shingles for the past couple of weeks and been kinda stuck at home, so I thought I'd bring her some chocolate to cheer her up. I came home and made dinner for the hubby and I (grilled Portobello's with Parmesan risotto). Now Derek's at a bible study, and I'm settling in for a solo p.j. party, complete with a Margarita and a cheesy chick flick. Just what the doctor ordered :)

Munchie Mondays

I am officially instating Munchie Mondays, in which I will post about all things munch-able. Tonight I'm making spaghetti with a lemon and olive oil sauce, topped with red and yellow bell peppers, and black olives. Very yummy. I decided to try something I've never done before- roasting peppers in the oven, then peeling the skin off of them. It works! I always thought it was something that only worked for the professional chefs on TV, but real people can do it too. The roasting gives the peppers a great flavor. Here's how it's done:


- Preheat oven to 400.
- Wash peppers.
- Drizzle olive oil in oven-safe pan. Place peppers in pan, making sure that all sides of the peppers have oil on them.
- Put peppers in the oven for about 10 minutes. Sizzling and browning is a good thing.
- After you take the pan of peppers out of the oven, immediately place the peppers in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. 
- Let the peppers cool, about 10 minutes.
- Once the peppers are cool enough to touch, peel the skin off. If it's a little difficult, try running them under cold water.
- Voila!

Grand Opening

Welcome to the "Grand Opening" of Something Nouveau!

For those of you that read my old blog, All By Me Onesy, thank you. I never realized how much blogging could make one a little insecure; it's a very vulnerable thing to shoot your thoughts out into the cyber-world. But it is now the end of an era, and time to move on to newer, and better things. Hence the name "Something Nouveau". 

To start things off I wanted to share one of my most recent DIY projects. I'm super stoked about it how it turned out.

I found these chairs at a thrift store for $18. I really liked the design of them, but the color and the fabric had to go.

Pretty outdated, right? So, after some liquid sander, elbow grease, and some risk-taking creativity...

I decided to go with a cobalt blue for the frames, since my husband and I are big fans of blue. It took me a while to pick the fabric, but finally decided to just go for it with the bold green flowered print. I think they turned out pretty sweet, and they look great on our little porch.

 

Happy weekend everyone!