Urban Homesteading

A while ago i bought a book called  "Made From Scratch"

and since i am a super slacker at reading, it took me about a year to actually pick up the book and read it!
recently we went to North Carolina for a week on a vaca and i got to read it there while sitting in front of the fire and relaxing (i know, i lead a hard life sometimes)

its an awesome book and now i cannot wait to own a house with a backyard so i can have a garden and buy some chickens!!!

i want fruit trees and a raised garden bed with fresh veggies for fresh meals and canning adventures and 3 hens roaming my backyard laying fresh colorful eggs so bad!! there are so many beautiful varieties of chickens, it absolutely amazing!

one day ill get the house and all that comes with it... until then ill reside in my little condo and drool over lovely photos like these :)

WOOOOOOW

I haven't blogged since June... holy cow its been a while hu!
Ohh well, I'm here now!

Too much has been going on lately...
...the Mister and I moved in together (very exciting)
...got a new job at work (stressful but it came with a nice pay raise yeah buddy)
...we got a cat, Doris (love her)
...my healthy living diet is non-existent  

Which reminds me...

So I got super excited recently when i got sucked into an infomercial and bought The Health Master.
This thing makes smoothies, juices, ice cream, HOT soup... all sorts of awesomeness... So it took 3 weeks to get here (which felt like an eternity) I have the machine for 2 weeks, I get to make 2 soups and 2 batches of juice and  yesterday morning the damn motor takes a shit! Ahhhh I'm so bummed! I called customer service and I can send it back and they will send me a new one... all for free. Which is awesome but I don't wanna wait around anymore! I want to make juice! Dang

Picture time... I love pictures :)

First up I have to show off The Health Master!!!
Ehhhh the new one better not give me troubles!!!

...Halloween happened.... love it

...happy birthday boyfriend... cutest cake ever...

...Meet Doris...

New do color... I'm a blonde...

I blog a lot more on Tumblr... come visit me :)
http://misstwattyone.tumblr.com/

...Ohhh hummus I heart you...

I'm on a huge hummus kick right now! Lately I've been struggling to finding a good, satisfying, not too filling, low calorie lunch. I was cruzing around facebook the other day and I came across someone who said they do whole wheat toast and hummus for lunch which got me thinking. Hummus, whole wheat bagel thin and some sort of raw veggie... ummmm perfect!!

Store bought vs. homemade? Homemade is the winner for me for sure. My boyfriend loves everything pumpkin so a couple months ago I tried a pumpkin hummus recipe from The Broccoli Hut and we both fell in love.

This week I started my new lunch adventure with a similar pumpkin recipe but of course with my spaztastic kitchen antics its impossible for me to follow any recipe correctly. =P

My newest version and by far my favorite one to date is as follows...
Pumpkin Hummus
1 can of chickpeas
1 can of pumpkin puree
1 T tahini
1 T pine nuts
4 garlic cloves (minced)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika

Blend together and viola... pumpkin hummus heaven!
*This recipe is heavy on the garlic as you can see... you may want to cut back on the garlic cloves if you like a tame garlic flavor in your hummus! The mister and I are huge garlic freaks so the more the better for us :)

I'm pretty sure I've stumbled onto the perfect lunch for me! With a small container of greek yogurt waiting for me in the fridge for a 2 o'clock snack I'll be good to go till dinner! Next week I'm gonna make some sort of Apple Pie Hummus. Not sure how this one will turn out but if its good I'll post a recipe for sure :)

Whats your perfect lunch?

food lovin: champagne

So its not technically "food" but I know I could make a meal out of a bottle of champagne! Especially after a long day at work. Gotta love the bubble action!

 

So much has gone on...

So as you can see a while ago I seriously gave up even trying to update this thing! I was working 2 jobs, trying to work out as much as possible, hang out with the boyfriend, clean the house, hang out with the chinchilla and cook as much as i possible could!! Holy busy Alyssa! Well the only thing thats different now is that I quit my second job! Super exciting, I know! Ive been a one job working gal for about a month now but I cant seem to get into the swing of things! I was very excited thinking about all the things id be able to do in my new free time but now that I have it I am just a lazy lazy bum! I am hoping I snap out of it soon.

So much has gone on in the past couple months...

Heres some picture lovin for the time being and heres hoping I continue to update on a regular now that I'm a free woman :)

...we have been spending a lot of time at the Dunedin Brewery, they have Apricot Peach Ale...

...the dood in the photos is my hair stylist, Frank, he is magical! he asked me to be in a hair show last month... it was super fun and my hair hates me mucho...

...frankie and I have been hanging out... he runs around like a crazy man and I play on my new laptop and listen to music...

...food... always cookin and eatin... mexican swiss chard rolls...bbq tofu, collards and potatoes... an awesome stir fry and produce from the Dunedin Harvest Co-op

...boyfriend and I went to the local park last weekend and had a nice picnic and read on a lovely Sunday...(notice the cookbook im reading, like i said... always cookin and eatin and dreaming of food)