My Kitchen Monday: Side Dish--Roasted Grapes and Parsnips

     My husband and I got back from visiting my side of the family for Thanksgiving (and immediate family Christmas gift exchange) late last night. We were there for a week and got to spend lots of quality time with my family. Time back home always reminds me how thankful I am that God gave me such a loving family. We came back with full bellies and good memories. We not only ate a lot and shopped on Black Friday but also got family pictures taken! We already got the pictures back from the photographer and they turned out so nice! They will soon be ready to be hung on the wall :)
     Now it's back to the real world...but I've been getting excited for Christmas now that Thanksgiving is over and it is December. On the way home I was thinking about how I was going to decorate our apartment. I got the rest of my Nativity from my parents for Christmas so I think that is what sparked my excitement to get my house ready for Christmas. I want it to be festive since this is the first time we will be home for Christmas since the year we moved to California 3 years ago. It will be a little lonely without a full table full of family but I am excited to finally set up a tree again and make a Christmas dinner for my husband and I. Once I get things in order and festive I will try to post some pictures of our house! I have a few days work tho before I can get things all in order since I have some unpacking, laundry and meal preparation to do.
     Today was the first year I bought a cyber Monday deal. I was looking into buying a subscription to "The Fresh 20" or "eMeals" for meal planning and grocery shopping. By chance I thought I would look into "The Fresh 20" and buying just a 3 month subscription today. To my surprise Fresh 20 was having a 50% off deal today for a year subscription. It is usually $54 for one year but I bought it for $27 (3 month subscription regular price still, $18)! So, now it will take a little less effort to plan dinners and hopefully will have leftovers for lunches. I also hope that it will create healthy meals and no waste. It will also get me out of my comfort zone because some of the recipes calls for items I am not used to eating, but am willing to try. For example, today the side is "roasted grapes and parsnips." I have never had parsnips before...or grapes that have been roasted for that matter. It will be interesting to try. The recipe calls for onion, garlic, parsnips, grapes, chicken broth and bit of maple syrup. All items on the fresh 20 recipes are supposed to be fresh and not processed or have preservatives which is how we like to eat anyways. Hopefully this will be a really good side dish! It's good to try new things...I think parsnips are like carrots???

A Clean House = A Happy Family

My husband was gone for the weekend to run in a race with his dad in Mexico. He left Thursday night and got back last night. He ran a half marathon and his dad ran a full marathon. I am always so happy to see my husband when he gets back from a trip, especially if it's more than one night. This time in particular I was wanting him home because there was a mini-earthquake Sunday night (3.1) around 9:30pm and the first thing I thought was that I wished he was home with me. It is kinda scary because you never know if it will keep going or if there will be another one. I am thankful this time was just a couple small bumps and a big sound like thunder.

Since my husband was gone all weekend I wanted to do some fall cleaning, go through some cupboards and organize things. I was pretty excited to have the time and surprise my husband with a super clean house after his long trip. It is not always SUPER messy but it does get cluttered and at times I am really not proud of how it looks. Dishes and laundry gets backed up and things get out of place. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday cleaning and organizing, and doing loads of laundry all day Saturday. Our laundry was kinda backed up and I washed all of our blankets in storage etc. so it took quite a bit of time to get it all done. 

Since I am proud of my hard work I thought I would post a few pictures. It still needs a bit more work here and there, maybe organizing some of the clutter that is still out and decorating it more...but it is a work in progress!

Our Bedroom

Bathroom

Kitchen

Dining Room

Living Room

New Goodies!

I received a few new goodies in the mail this week. I bought a new calendar for this next coming year and a citrus fruit print. I saw the print on a blog and thought it would look cute in our kitchen or dining room. 
Lately, I have been trying to clean up our house and declutter. I find it hard sometimes to keep up with my housework when I usually only have nights to work on it. So, I am gradually going to try to make our house more of a home by adding some details  to give me more incentive to keep it looking nice and clean. Hopefully in the next few months I will add curtains to block the glare on the tv, rugs so our furniture does not make scratches on our wood floors, and sew some new accent pillows for the bedroom and sofa. I also will be trying to organize cluttered closets and cupboards.
I found these 2 items online at Rifle Paper Co. (I got the calendar on sale!) 

Bougainvilleas

Yesterday I brought home these beauties. My husband and I have talked since we moved here that these flowers would definitely be high on the list of flowers to buy when we had our own house. I fell in love with them, I saw them everywhere when we were apartment searching. To my husband they have sentimental value. His grandmother had these in her back yard as he grew up. By chance I saw these for sale and just had to buy them for our apartment entryway. They seem to have a long flower life so if it stays fairly warm and sunny and if i remember to water them as they need it, these flowers will make our entrance beautiful for a long while! What do ya think?