On Top Of The World

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We just got back from Maui, late Thursday night. I will be doing a little trip report next week (I still have yet to write it. I have to get my kids ready to leave today. They are embarking upon a week long camping trip with their grandparents. I am hoping this alone time will allow my brain the capability to fill pages with stories and get me caught up on comments and reading my favorite blogs!). I managed to do some outfit photos while I was there.

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My favorite thing to do on vacation is to just drive and see where the day takes us. This usually does not disappoint. We found ourselves in the vicinity of Maui’s Haleakala Crater and so we decided to make the drive up the mountain. Usually people make the trek up for sunrise or sunset, but we are not planners. I think both events would be worth it. Although, I cannot imagine making the drive in the dark, especially with the bicyclists on those tight turns.

This picture above was taken on the drive up. It starts off gorgeous and green and then turns red and barren as you drive higher up the volcanic rock.

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We got to the top and it was gorgeous. Truly breathtaking. You can see above the clouds. It feels wonderful and oddly like being a part of “The Never Ending Story.”

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Yes, I wore this dress to the top of a volcano where everyone else was dressed in hiking gear.

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And it was kind of awesome! Well, maybe I did regret not bringing a sweater. It was cold! But spontaneity sometimes calls for a little discomfort.

The dress was a clearance buy from Free People that I featured here a few months ago. It is sold out now, but they have a slightly similar one here that I very much want. And underneath it, I am wearing my favorite slip in the world. It is the Free People Trapeze Slip. It looks like they currently have a similar color to my seafoam colored slip. I wear mine at least once a week. While I was in Maui, I saw three different women wearing this slip (all three women had on different colors and all three women were at three different places) as a swimsuit cover-up.

The necklace is Simply Livly’s Turquoise Necklace.

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It was so high. It might have been the highest I have ever been except for traveling in an airplane.

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One of the most amazing sights is peering down into the crater. It feels so untouched and I told my husband that I could still believe there might be dinosaurs amongst us peering down into that valley. This was my husband’s favorite part of the trip. He could have stayed here all day.

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And honestly, I could have, too.

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It was peaceful and not as cold as it was at the very top of the mountain.

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I did a little twirl and I think it looks like I was flying.

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Speaking of flying, we spotted a ton of owls on Maui. For some reason it is not something that I had pictured when I thought of the island. This little guy was the third one I spotted on the drive back down the crater.

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Have you been to the top of a volcano? Was it windy and cold? Did you bring a gnome friend?

Gypsy Spirit

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Me: “Hey, I just heard that there is a whole… Hmmmm. What is the word that I want… Not congregation… But?

Him: “Cult?”

Me: “No. Not cult! A group of people. Actually they are all psychics and they all live together on this piece of land not far from here.”

Him: “Gypsies?”

Me: “No! They live in homes but they are all psychic and they live in the same community.”

Him: “So a community of tract homes like ours full of psychics?”

Me: “No. No…. Well, Okay. I think they live in trailers on the same land together. Hmmm… maybe they are gypsies. I don’t know. I just heard about them.”

Him: “Where’d you hear about them?”

Me: “My hair dresser. She went and said it was really cool. It is a group of psychics and they all live together and help each other develop their powers and I want…”

Him interrupting me, in the most natural and nonchalant way: “To join them?”

Me: “What?! No! I just want to go get my palm read.”

Me: “Wait! You thought I wanted to join them?! You thought I was going to leave and go live with gypsies?!”

Him: “Yes. I thought that was what you were leading up to.”

Me: “And you were okay with that?! Why were you so calm about that?”

Him: “Because I knew you’d come back.”

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Have you ever been to a gypsy camp? Has your husband ever been okay with you running away and joining them?

*I am wearing an Anthropologie skirt from last year and a vintage vest. I could not find anything similar, but if I could afford it, I would buy this gypsy skirt and never look back. ; ) If only I could foresee if that happens…

Crockpot Spaghetti (with coffee grounds)

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I am usually pretty lazy when it comes to making spaghetti. I just brown the meat and toss in a couple of cans of pasta sauce. The end.

But the other day I stumbled across a recipe. This is not an odd thing to happen. But what is odd is the ingredient in the recipe. Coffee grounds. Coffee grounds? Yes. And since I love anything absurd. And I love an ingredient I have around the house for free (that I usually throw away). I decided to try it.

I am not going to post the ingredients for the recipe, even though ingredients are fair game when it comes to copyrights. This is because it is a crockpot recipe so if I post the ingredients, you pretty much know there are three steps to follow after that.

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Brown the meat.

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Put the ingredients in the crockpot. Cook.

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Make the noodles. And stir the now completely yummy and bubbling sauce.

And that would not be fair to the creators of this recipe (Layers of Happiness). If I change a recipe in at least three ways, I will blog the recipe in its entirety, but I did not change this one except to reduce the water by a cup and double the red wine. I like to play nice. So, I definitely recommend clicking over to the blog that posted this recipe to see it there.

This makes my family of four, four complete meals. The first night, we eat what we can.

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Then, I pour the remaining spaghetti sauce into two of these handy dandy freezable containers (best. things. ever. The link is an affiliate link. I bought mine four months ago. I use them for everything). Each container is a family sized serving for four. I freeze two containers. The rest, I save in the refrigerator with the leftover noodles from the first evening to eat the next day as leftovers.

This spaghetti sauce is so good. It is even better the next day.

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When I am tired and I do not want to cook, I simply defrost the spaghetti sauce that is in the freezer on the counter for an hour (this is so it slides out easier). Then I pour (more like plop) the sauce into my dutch oven with 1/4 cup of water and cover the whole thing and simmer on medium low heat for thirty minutes while I make the noodles.

I serve it with frozen baguettes from Costco. Have you tried those loaves? They come in 5 packs of 2. They are my family’s favorite baguettes.

Have you used coffee grounds in a recipe before? At first I was kind of nervous about it. But then I researched it and it turns out coffee grounds are a great antioxidant (article found here). And I was sold.

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It looks like I am not the only one who enjoys this spaghetti. : )

The Lord Of The Pizzas

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No. This pizza is not really “Lord of the pizzas.” Nor am I, “Lord of the pizzas.” In fact, the title was simply in reference to some silly movie quotes throughout this post.

Blame my thighs. They lord over everything around here.

One of my favorite things to make at home is homemade pizza. We take the term “homemade” a little loosely in our house. We made it in our house. But everything is bought and put together. As in pre-made. And put together.

As in my lazy soul continues to be happy.

And my thighs continue to rule them all.

Isn’t that how the saying goes?:

“One thigh to rule them all. One thigh to wine them.
One thigh to eat it all and in the kitchen dine them.”

Or somethin’ like that.

I have tried almost all of the different store’s pre-made pizza dough. And I know which dough is my favorite. Safeway’s pizza dough can’t be beat. And I will not use any other pizza sauce except for Pastorelli. As for the cheese, I use whatever I can get on sale.

So, my ingredient list has my preferred labels for the pizza I make at home.

With school being out for the summer soon, I know my kids will want to be in the kitchen cooking more. I wanted to post this in case you, too, want to trick get your kids to cook dinner for you this season.

This would be great for second breakfast, too.

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Ingredients for two pizzas:

2 Safeway Select Traditional pre-made (but not precooked) pizza balls of dough (usually found next to their pre-made take and bake refrigerated pizzas and usually $1 each)
2 8 oz. cans of Pastorelli Pizza sauce (you can use a 15 oz. can and split it in half. I buy the two little cans so each child has their own can to work with)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Optional:

We use:

1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 bag pepperoni
1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes

Any other topping you like. Maybe Po-ta-toes.

Directions:

Let refrigerated pizza dough rest on counter for thirty minutes before using.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Since I have two children, I let each of them roll out one ball of dough. Stretch the dough. Pull the dough. You really cannot hurt it. The more you work pizza dough, the better it gets.

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My kids do all of the following instructions. What do I do? Well, somebody has to drink the wine.

I always have them make it in a rectangular shape. This is so the finished product fits on my baking sheets.

The baking sheets should be lightly oiled with olive oil.

Once the dough is made into the desired shape, place each pizza dough on a baking sheet.

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Pour one can of pizza sauce on to each pizza dough. Sprinkle two cups of cheese onto each pizza. Then top with your ingredients. One of our children likes plain cheese. The other, pepperoni. And our whole family likes sun dried tomatoes and feta.

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Those last two ingredients are not added until there are only two to three minutes left to the baking time. I want them warmed up but sun-dried tomatoes burn very quickly, so you can not put them on at the beginning. I feel like feta dries out if I put it on for the entire baking period because the flakes are so small. But you can definitely add it for the entire baking time if you prefer.

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Bake pizzas for 13-15 minutes. The cheese should be melted but not brown.

Let the pizza rest for 3-5 minutes. Cut the pizza into slices.

Plate the pizza.

Serve the pizza with salad. I use this easy recipe.

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Homemade pizza. Spinach salad. Red wine.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

Isn’t that right, my precious?