Pinterest Success: Lightened-Up Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse

This quick and easy recipe appeases my sweet tooth and doesn't make me feel like I am ruining a "good" day of eating. It's low in sugar and high in protein. And, it's pumpkin. Can't beat that.

Lightened-Up Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse

recipe adapted from FitSugar

1 fat-free cottage cheese
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
1 tbs. sugar-free instant butterscotch dry pudding mix
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon 3 stevia, or to taste
crushed graham crackers as an optional topping 

Throw everything into your food processor or blender. Top with graham crackers if you're into that sort of thing.

Easy as (pumpkin) pie. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Things That Make Me Well Up: The Bobby Bones Show

I’ve wanted to start a series within my blog for a long time. Something original. Something that screams “Jonna.”

And one of the things that is so very “me” is my tendency toward crying. It isn’t crying as much as it is welling. Tears brim at my eyelids. I will them to stay in my tear ducts. It doesn’t usually work.

I don’t often cry big, huge crocodile tears, but I well up at varied list of things, including, but definitely not limited to: The Amazing Race, Phoebe’s wedding on Friends, that nurse commercial, this Buzzfeed article, and military homecoming videos.

Today’s welling, wasn’t actually a welling, but a full-on, have-to-close-my-office-door (#humblebrag) cry for …

The Bobby Bones Show.

I figured, if I’m going to cry like a B, I may as well be able to articulate why. So here goes nothing.

October 2008: R and I started seeing each other. We lived about 90 minutes from one another. Most Friday mornings to Tuesday mornings, I would spend that time with R. Then, I’d have to leave.  And the floodgates opened up. Which, in hindsight was kinda silly absolutely absurd. We would be reuniting again in literally 72 hours.

The point here isn’t my utter absurdity, but this:

On those drives back home, I would spend it with the Bobby Bones Show. And, after awhile, those drives weren’t tearful departures from someone I was starting to fall in love with, but drives full of laugh, Amy's horrible awesome jokes, and Name-That-Tune. So my tears started to subside.

June 2009: I moved in with R and commuted 50 miles to and from work. I started timing things so I’d get in the car just as the show started playing “What Year Was It?”

It made things easier. It made things better. It helped me get through these times in my life and other times where things were uncertain and scary and seemingly more than I could handle.

And now, more than four years later, they are still a part of my life.

I tried Glowing Green Smoothies because of Amy.

I ran a (half) marathon for the first time with one of my best friends because of Lunchbox.

I saved Bobby’s episode of “Live with Regis and Kelly” on my DVR for months.

The day before Maggie's wedding, we sat in on the show and met them all.

But, more than any of those things, I feel connected to these radio personalities. These radio personalities are my friends and I feel strangely, but undeniably, connected to them. My eyes welled up with happy tears when Amy called from Africa. My heart hurts for Bobby when he mentions his mom and his past. I can’t help but smile when Lunch wins a game, because I know what’s coming (“and they stay there, and they stay thereeee …”).

When I heard the news about the big move, I was speechless. I felt like my friends were moving away to do something amazing for themselves and their careers. I felt nervous for them because I know the change and the risk has to be nerve-wracking. I felt excited for them because it is an incredibly awesome opportunity that they 100% deserve. I am both anxious-excited and anxious-nervous to see how the show looks and feels from Nashville. I can already picture the country music beds and a Name-That-Tune game full of country music artists.

Friday morning, my eyes welled up hearing the last show from Austin because of all that. Bobby always says that there are a million other things that his listeners could do with their mornings.

But, this is the only thing I want to do with my morning. I want to listen to a bunch of best friends sit around and talk into microphones.

I am thankful for the realness, I am thankful for candor, and I am thankful for the laughs over the years.

Happy weekend, everyone!

The No-Niche Niche.

Over the past few months, I've turned into more of an introvert. I've learned to treasure the time I spend by myself and use that time to recharge, rethink, and reevaluate all things Jonna.

That's why I wanted to rebrand my blog. I wanted it to speak more truthfully and thoroughly about who I am and what I seek to do through this blog. I want it to tell my story. 

Here's the rub -- my story is all over the place. But, I don't want to limit that. I want to embrace it. 

I want to tell my readers about an amazing recipe they need to try AND tell them the funny thing that happened when I went to buy the ingredients. 

I want to talk about my relationship AND the new health regimen I'm starting to adopt. 

I want to discuss my cat food buying woes AND the Etsy prints I just ordered. 

So that's the new blog plan of action. 

Write a blog about my life as it comes. Simple? I hope so. 

One more thing. The name. The new blog name comes from Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" and this lyric: 

It's not always rainbows and butterflies
It's compromise that moves us along... 

This lyrics embodies what I aim to do here. I want to capture all the beauty and rough stuff that life hands me. The hope is that, if nothing else, it documents my triumphs and my struggles. And if I'm really lucky, people will take a break from their life and share in the hot mess that is mine.

Pinterest Success: Pork Carnitas

I have lesson plans to write (the semester starts in two weeks for me).

I have this weird allergy / cold thing going on. Scratchy throat, nasal congestion, sneezing, the whole lot. It's super sexy.

But, I also have this recipe from Pinterest that I found for Pork Carnitas. And LOVED it.

Yes, I eat dinner on my couch. Next to my laptop. And yes, I put my blueberries in a coffee cup. 

It was so good. Trust me, try it.

The only con of this recipe is the time it takes. It takes like three hours. You can read the original recipe  here, but here's my summary:

• Combine all the ingredients in a Dutch oven and bring it to a boil. 
• Place the Dutch oven in your oven. 
• Wait two hours. 
• Take it out of the oven, separate the meat from the rest of the stuff, pull the meat apart, and reduce the liquid. 
• Put the meat in the reduced liquid.
• Broil the meat on each side. 

Sigh. 

I know you're thinking "ain't nobody got time for that." But take the time. It makes a ton of food. Ray and I split the cooked meat and I managed to make three (almost four) meals out of my half. Such good bang for your buck! 

So, do what I did. Go to brunch on Sunday. Pass out on your couch. Then wake up and cook so you don't feel like a complete hot mess. 

This is the perfect Sunday afternoon, post brunch haze dish to make. I speak from experience.

Happy Monday, everyone.

My New Year's.

Sometimes, things just don’t go according to plan. And, that’s okay.

Sometimes, you have awesome New Year’s Eve plans to ring in the new year with lovely friends you don’t get to see that often and your cat gets crystals, a.k.a. kitty kidney stones.

(Did you know that kitties can get kidney stones?! Me either!) But they do. And when this happens, they have to get an IV put in their little kitty leg. And a catheter in their little kitty nether-region. (And you start to freak out about your finances because kitty IVs and kitty catheters are shockingly expensive.)

They shaved his leg. How sad is that? 

And your New Year’s Eve celebration becomes a barbecue feast, a Survivor marathon, and a night of watching to make sure your kitty pees. And eats. And drinks enough water. And, you pat him on his head whenever he has “leakage” because “some pee is better than no pee” when it comes to kitty kidney stones.

And, that’s okay too.

 Because, you love your cat more that you ever realized. And the thought of him not being around scares you to your very core and reduces you to a sobbing mess on a couch that may never be the same again.

So, you shell out the cash without hesitation. And, you embrace your new New Year’s Eve plans. And, you learn to get used to the pee smell in your apartment (and hope that a Groupon for a carpet cleaner will roll in soon). Then, you take a deep breath because you realize that your cat getting sick just taught you a lesson about what's really important.

And then you shower, rush out the door for work, and continue your day, as best you can.

All the while hoping that the cat pee smell is all in your head and in your nose, and not on your scarf.

Recipe: Red Velvet Cake Balls

One of my grad school peers used to make cake balls out of red velvet cake every time we had a class meeting that also involved food.

They were delicious. They were amazing. And, not that she needed it (at all) but I’m pretty sure she got a point or two added to her exam scores. That's how good they were.

So, I decided that I would attempt the same feat. What grade do I give myself? A solid “B.”

I am deducting points for not explicitly following directions and for working hastily.

But, the end result was delicious. Like, really REALLY delicious.

So, without further adieu, the recipe.

 Red Velvet Cake Balls
(recipe courtesy of Bakerella)

Ingredients and Materials:
1 red velvet cake, prepared according to the box’s directions
1 16-oz. can cream cheese frosting
1 package regular chocolate or white chocolate bark coating (I used both!)
Wax paper and cookie sheet(s)

Directions:

1. Cook the cake according to the directions provided on the box. 

I love having to expend zero energy to whip up a cake. 

2. Wait for the cake to cool completely.
3. Crumble the cake into a large bowl, or back into your stand mixer.

4. Add dollops of the frosting into your crumbled cake and mix. You can mix with your hands, or you could watch your mixer do the work for you.

5. Roll the mixture into quarter-sized balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Here’s the FIRST place where I didn’t follow the directions. Mine were like the size of the half-dollar.) 

6. Chill the balls for several hours. (Here’s the SECOND place where I didn’t follow directions. I was incredibly impatient. I waited one hour. Tops. When they aren’t chilled, they lose their shape and become all bumpy and weird looking. The cake also starts to separate and ends up in your chocolate.) 

7. Melt chocolate in microwave according to the directions. If needed and if you have it, you can thin the chocolate with some shortening. Good old-fashioned Crisco.


8. Use a spoon to roll the balls in the chocolate. The spoon also come in handy for getting rid of the extra chocolate.

 9. Plop them onto the wax paper.

10. Let them set until they are firm.

 11. Enjoy!

"There Is a Possum by the Front Door."

What is it about Christmas that makes it so exhausting?

Is it the excessive shopping and out-of-this-world crowds, lines and traffic?

Is it the stress of being around family?

Is it the overindulgent eating and underwhelming holiday workout regimen?

Or, is it the fact that Christmas is the one week reminder that you’re about to start a whole new year and therefore you ought to resolve to do things better in the new year?

I think it’s the combination of all these things.

When all of the gifts have been opened, when all of the radio stations have stopped playing Mariah Carey, when I no longer have an excuse to watch “Love Actually” and well up with happy tears, I get to thinking, “how am I going to make this year better than the last?”

What does “better” even mean?

Does “better” mean “healthier?”

Does “better” mean “fiscally responsible?”

Does “better” mean “nicer,” “more giving,” or “more obliging?”

I never know.

I’ve got a couple 2013 plans in mind. But they change everyday. I’ll keep you posted.

For now, I’ll leave you with the few pictures I took this holiday.

Happy Holidays, y’all.

You haven't lived until you've tried to force a cat to wear a Santa hat. After giving said cat a bath. 

Elf collars are met with the same disdain, in case you're wondering. 

Christmas gift from Ray. The color is called "Majestic Yellow." Love/

If you saw my old black clutch, riddled with kitty scratch marks, you'd know this new clutch wasn't a "want" gift from Ray, but a "need."

Our Christmas Eve-Eve dinner. 

And this little nugget was near my entryway Christmas morning as we tried to leave to meet my family. A possum. Who played possum and pretended to be dead. Until he really died. Gross.