Kitchen Essentials

I'm telling ya, this blog stuff is harder to keep up with than I thought! My New Year's Resolution is to try and keep up with this a little more and post a lot more as well. We'll see how that goes!

I've thought about peppering in some posts about the multiple kitchen items that I use, why I love them and the uses I have for them. For some people, cooking is a brand new adventure to them. They don't know where to begin and all the gadgets and accessories and what not can probably be a little overwhelming when you're starting out. Whether you're newly married, out on your own for the first time due to going to college or moving out on your own, or you're simply tired of eating fast food or making simple box dinners, I wanted to share some of my favorites things I use in the kitchen to make meals for me and my main squeeze.

One of my favorite things (I'm probably going to say this about most things I use in the kitchen) is my Dutch oven. My dad got it for me one year for Christmas and I love this thing! It's so versatile. I use it at least once a week and honestly I could probably use it a lot more than that.

Things I use my Dutch oven for include:

-soups and stews
-one pot dishes
-pot roast
-frying things like boneless wings or pickles
-boiling pasta for dishes
-mashed potatoes
-pasta sauces like for lasagna
-making pretzels

Like yesterday and today for example. Yesterday I used it to make pretzels in the morning and fried boneless wings in it later that night. Tonight I made a one pot pasta dish. I love it! There's so many uses for it and it's oven safe. Mine is by Lodge and it's enameled cast iron so it's heavy. A good Dutch oven is essential to have in your kitchen arsenal! 

Good Ol' Virginny

Well, we are back in my home state! We've been here for a bit now, got here in July (whoops!) and I have been enjoying being back home for a little while. Most of our time here has consisted of getting things ready for the wedding (gah!) and spending time with my family. And exploring of course too! I am working in Midlothian at one of the Bon Secours Hospitals called St. Francis. It's going good, there's only one ICU there so I'm working on that unit. Anyways we've had some good adventures so far being here in Virginia! Here are just a few pictures of the fun things we've done so far!

Appomattox Courthouse National Park 

Appomattox Courthouse National Park

 

Appomattox Courthouse National Park

 

Yorktown 

 Jamestown Ferry

 Jamestown Ferry

 Natural Chimneys

Skyline Drive

Skyline Drive

 

Cyrus McCormick Farm

Cyrus McCormick Farm

Black Bears on the Skyline Drive

North Entrance (we drove the whole 105 miles!)

Cyrus McCormick Farm

Cyrus McCormick Farm

These are just a few of our travels so far, we definitely have more planned for the near future! As far as recipes go, well I'm still trying out new ones and finding some that I love! Hopefully soon I can get on the ball and post some. 

Until then my friends

Slacker

Geez. May! I absolutely SUCK at trying to keep up with this blog! I keep telling myself to post recipes, things my main squeeze and I have done and adventures we've been on but I plum just keep forgetting. Maybe one of these days I'll get into the habit and routine of keeping up with it. Anyways, my travel adventurs have brought my main squeeze and I to Springfield, Missouri. A lot of his family is from Seymour which is about 30-40 minutes away and I love being this close to his family. Sure I haven't met many of them yet or spent a lot of time with them but it's nice knowing that they're close and we can go do things with them. 

I was so happy this year because I got to spend Austin's birthday with him. Last year I was still home in Virginia and couldn't celebrate with him so I was happy as a clam to be here this year for it. He got a kindle and a cover for it (I was gonna get him Seinfeld as well but we'll save that for another time). 

We've had a few adventures since we've been here (not many as we haven't been here tooooo long). One place we wanted to go to was Silver Dollar City. Like Kings Dominion for me, my main squeeze grew up going to SDC every year and I was excited to finally check it out! They have some roller coasters and home girl here was a wee bit too large to fit into the seats (darn those childbearing hips!) I'm hoping to lose some weight so when we go back I can fit into the seats!

As far as the recipe world we've tried a bunch of new things since I've posted last (and even before then!) Hopefully I can get on the ball and post some here soon. I have one more night of work before I am off for 5 nights so we'll see!

Speaking of work I am working at Mercy Hospital in Springfield and I am in their ICU float pool. That means that I work on whichever ICU they need me in that night I'm working.

Peace and sunshine (well, moonshine at the present time since it's 0300) until next time!