Hi! Happy Thinking Out Loud Thursday! I hope the week is treating you well and you’ve eaten something delicious in the last two hours. If not, I have some pancakes for ya to fix that.
Now, let’s talk about what’s happening in my life and mind this week. Thanks for the link-up, Amanda!
1.) On Friday night, I had pizza for the first time since going mostly-Paleo.
{Dark picture via my Instagram story}
It was glorious, and it didn’t wreck my stomach. Yay moderation! And meatball pizza!
2.) I cannot believe I forgot to take a picture of this, but I was baking on Sunday when the handle of our oven straight up fell off. As in, there were three mini loaves of Sally’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread in the oven and I had to repeatedly pry the oven door open by the sides with oven mitts to check, turn, and remove them. It was super fun. This has happened before, but it’s been easier to fix in the past. It took some investigation (after the oven cooled down) to determine what had happened, but my dad and I figured it out, and he went to the store to get better screws. It’s fixed now!
3.) Other weekend baking for my mom’s office included this banana cake (in cupcake form) and these sugar cookies. Everyone raved about them, so I’d say if you’re ever in the market for a good banana cake or sugar cookie recipe, these are solid. 🙂
4.) After the driest June and July ever, it has rained for the last week. The air is sticky and hot, though slowly cooling down a bit. I love rain, but a week of clouds is a little much for me. On the bright side, our brown grass is turning green again.
5.) Apparently, writing about my ridiculous insomnia was the cure. I slept for a solid eight hours on Tuesday night and it was glorious.
6.) I grew up in a house where we cleaned about once a week. Everything got dusted and vacuumed and tidied on the regular, and that was normal. Well, we’ve had a busy couple weeks and that cleaning schedule has been put on hold. The clutter level is still low, but it’s been a tad bit dusty.
Yesterday, I dusted everything and I’ve gotta say, I’ve never used that many (seven) Swiffers to clean the house. Blech. But it feels so good now!
7.) I hate vacuuming, but I was cleaning and trying to be a good daughter, so I convinced myself to do it. Just as I started, I heard our alarm system chime. See, it makes an obnoxious noise whenever a door opens… and that sound definitely happened. But I was the only one home. And so I kinda freaked out and was grateful for a heavy vacuum cleaner to use as a weapon if necessary. My dad was very patient on the phone as I walked through the house to satisfy myself that no one had entered. They hadn’t.
{Source}
I then decided that I’d been traumatized enough for the day and didn’t need to vacuum that badly.
8.) I’ve been spiralizing like crazy this week and I also can’t get enough zucchini.
{Easy-peasy lunch: honey-dijon zoodles, Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage, salt-and-pepper avocado, carrots}
And if you need a super-simple dinner, my whole family loved these Zoodles with Chicken and Spicy Almond Butter Sauce from Lindsay! The sauce is so totally spoonable.
9.) I’m currently watching Beat Bobby Flay. I love Bobby Flay. He’s doesn’t lose. He’s like the multi-gold medalist of cooking, and I like to tell myself we could be BFFs.
10.) And now I want to leave you with some of my favorite recipes + reads from the week.
- You had me at chocolate and coconut. –> Chocolate Chip Macaroons
- Shrimp cocktail is my favorite. –> Mexican Shrimp Cocktail
- Nutrition-packed no-bake bars. –> Cinnamon Turmeric Super Seed Energy Bars
- Health is so much more than how you eat and exercise. –> When Thoughts Become Toxic
- You don’t have to be busy all the time. –> Learning How to Do Nothing
Your turn:
Is it rainy where you are?
Do you root for the underdog or the favorite?
Anything else I should know?
I can’t stand Bobby Flay. He is an a$$hat. At least he isn’t doing Throwdown any more. That was the worst–hi, I have the entire Food Network behind me, and we are going to show you that everything that you have worked so hard for all your life isn’t good enough. Pissed me off so much. Haven’t liked him since.
Agree to disagree. Totally not the case in real life, but I gravitate toward cocky people on TV. Though I’ve never seen that show and it sounds awful. The thing that always gets me on The Food Network is people who say, “I might’ve lost, but I’m not gonna let it get me down. I’m just going to keep making food I love.” And I’m like, “I sure hope so! If you’re going to let a game show tell you not to do what you love, I can’t get behind you.”
We’ve actually had a few random thunderstorms here and there, which has been nice. Those zoodles look so good! I haven’t made them for a while, but I really need to.
Zoodles are great 😀
I mostly just love Bobby Flay because he owns a chain of burger spots called Bobby’s Burger Palace and they are some of the most amazing fast food burgers I have ever eaten in my life. One is called a crunch burger and it’s literally just double cheese and then a tower of Lay’s potato chips.
Alex and I were just talking about how crazy the rain is here in NJ the past 2 weeks – it’s been like living in Florida with a storm every afternoon. Suffice to say, our humidity is so high right now, I literally have to put a towel under the toilet because of the condensation!
I WANT THOSE BURGERS.
It’s pouring today! But it’s still so off and on! It gets so so hot during the day so it seems like everything is dry…but the air…the air is sticky and thick!
I hate vacuuming for the fact that when I start, I get so obsessive about it and have to make sure every single corner, crack, and inch is cleaned before I stop….it gets rather time consuming :/
Hahaha I’m that way with dusting. I have to clean everything once I start, even if I only planned on doing a small bit.
Yay for zoodles 🙂 (Obvi I would say that). We just get our typical late afternoon (monsoon) rainstorms, which have been highly inconvenient for me since I broke my umbrella and haven’t gotten a new one yet. I don’t mind vacuuming but the dogs hate when I do it!
My dog isn’t a fan either. We try to let her hang out outside if possible, since otherwise she just keeps looking for a non-loud “safe” place.
So glad you got some moisture, and I hope the sun comes out to dry it up and let it soak in! 🙂 It’s amazing how God waters the earth, and then He gives it sunshine too.
Wow, your oven handle just fell off? That’s crazy. That hasn’t happened yet for me, but it might some day. I need to keep your strategy in mind for dealing with it.
Those pancakes are just so beautiful Ellen. <3 And that makes me happy to hear that the pizza wasn't rough on your stomach.
Our grass is SO green now. It’s lovely.
Haha and yes, I can come fix your oven if it falls apart entirely now 🙂 Thanks for your kind words, as always, Emily!
omg i hateeee thinking someone has randomly entered our place. even though we live in a condo… 25 floors up haha. IT STILL MIGHT HAPPEN. i’ll keep in mind the vacuum cleaner as a weapon if i ever need to 😉
Mmmm I love pumpkin chocolate chip bread! Hope the bread turned out perfectly still, even with the bizarre oven door fiasco!
I love Beat Bobby Flay! I’ve probably only seen someone beat him once…how can we become judges? Dream job!
It has been sunny and warm and lovely here lately but for some reason the weather was like “oh yeah it’s still winter” and decided to get all cold and rainy again in the last half an hour. Womp womp!
I NEED to try those zoodles. That sauce sounds gooooooooooooooood!
hate vacuuming too… lol. your pancakes look SO good. And yesss to friday night pizza nights!!
Thanks so much, Lyss! And pizza nights are pretty much always a good idea 🙂
I actually love vacuuming! It’s been raining like CRAZY where I live. Super relaxing to fall asleep to thoughh 🙂
I love sleeping through storms ❤️