Creative Writer Award - Six Lies & A Truth

Thank you so much to Katie at Health for the Whole Self for nominating me for the Creative Writer Blogger Award! It's my first award on Cupcakes & Combat Boots so it means a lot!

Have you ever played that little “get-to-know-you” ice breaker called “Two Truths and a Lie”? Each person shares 3 statements – two that are true and one that is false – and the others in the group try to guess which one is a fabrication.

Well, this is sort of like that, except it’s Six Lies and a Truth.

Basically, receiving this award means that I must share with all of you seven outrageous statements about myself – except that ONLY ONE OF THEM IS TRUE. Can you guess which one it is?

1. I broke my nose while playing softball in highschool when a line drive smacked me in the face.

2. The first thing I ever said to my husband when we met was an insult.

3. I changed my major 3 times in college.

4. I had a total meltdown/freakout on my wedding day.

5. I was/am a pretty good pianist. I even played in Carnegie Hall when I was 10.

6. I've spent the night in jail before.

7. I used to be such a neat freak that I would clean my friend's rooms for them when I would play at their houses.

That was way harder than I thought it would be. I'm not good a coming up with lies! But this should be pretty easy because I'm pretty sure the majority of my readers actually know me in real life. :)

My next duty is to nominate other bloggers who I believe will have fun with this creative challenge! Here are my picks:
1. Kelsey Lately

2. My Fair Lady

3. Flour & Daisies

4. Martinez Mail

5. Glammed if you Do, Glammed if you Don't

6. My Happy House

7. Graced by Wetzels (who might not have time to do it since she is about to pop out baby #2 any day/hour/minute now!!)

Once nominated, here is what you have to do:
1. Thank the person who gave this to you.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you.

4. Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and one outrageous truth.

5. Nominate up to seven “Creative Writers” who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.

6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.

7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

Can you guess which one of my seven statements is the truth??

Better Than Martha's Chicken {What's for Dinner? 3/8/2010}

Parmesan & Parsley Crusted Chicken Breasts
w/ Goat Cheese & Basil Orzo

We didn't plan on changing this recipe at all, but we accidentally bought skinless chicken breasts instead of skin-on. At first I was annoyed but then we realized we could adapt it and hopefully make it work out okay. And guess what? I actually think our version looks and sounds BETTER than the Martha Stewart version. Take THAT, Martha!


Parmesan & Parsley Crusted Chicken Breasts
Adapted from this recipe

Prep: 10 minutes Total: 55 minutes
Serves 4.

Ingredients


* 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
* 1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
* 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* Grated zest of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
* Coarse salt and ground pepper
* 4 bone-in, skinless chicken breast halves (about 3 pounds)


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, mix parsley, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and zest. Season the chicken breasts with 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Beat one or two eggs and place in a shallow dish.
2. Dip each chicken breast in the beaten egg and then into the parsley/breadcrumb mixture. Place in a 9-by-13-inch roasting pan sprayed with Pam.
3. Bake until topping is golden brown, chicken is cooked through, and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat registers 165 degrees, about 30-45 minutes.


Goat Cheese & Basil Orzo
Source: Me

Ingredients:

• 1 cup orzo
• 1 tsp salt
  
• A handful of baby spinach, chopped or torn into pieces
  
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
  
• 2 Tbsp goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

Cook orzo according to package directions. Once cooked, drain it and then immediately return it to the hot pan. Toss in the spinach stir into the pasta so it wilts a bit. Then put in the goat cheese, basil, cherry tomatoes, olive oil and salt & pepper. Toss and then eat!


This is what we deal with as we eat dinner at night {and yes, we do frequently eat off of the coffee table...don't judge. At least there are placemats!}. She sets her face on the table and then sticks her tongue out like a lizard hoping to find some food.

Oscar Roundup 2010

Who watched the Oscars last night? I did, I did! And I thought there were lots of gorgeous dresses, but also more than the usual bad ones. Below I'll show my picks for the best and the worst. But first, let's have some MAN CANDY.

Ryan Reynolds

Yummm. Love him. So hot. Enough said.

Taylor Lautner

My favorite little werewolf was looking quite dapper in a tux. {Team Jacob}

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The Good:

Miley Cyrus

I am not usually a big Miley fan but I LOVE THIS LOOK. Love everthing about it: the color of the dress, the flowy skirt with the fitted bodice, the golden makeup, the swept-back hair, the jewels. I would totally wear this whole ensemble {you know, if I ever go to the Oscars someday...ha!}.

Sandra Bullock
Sandra looked beautiful and so fitting for her big win! I especially loved her hair and makeup {the red lips & the simple sleek hair}...so old Hollywood glamour!

Kristen Stewart

This is the best I've seen Kristin Stewart look in a long time. Thank goodness she finally did her hair and didn't wear sneakers! My only complaint is that this dress almost seemed too glam on her...it was a bit of a stretch. I think she could have found something that more met in the middle of her punk rock look and glamour. It was like she was trying to be someone she isn't.

Cameron Diaz

Cameron was totally channeling the old Hollywood glam look too and I loved it. Again, you see simple side-swept hair, red lips and a gorgeous muted gold dress. Love love LOVE! Another look I would definitely wear!

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The Bad:

Jennifer Lopez

Don't like the color, don't like the structure, don't like anything {except for maybe her makeup}. And who would think that putting a giant ruffle right smack dab on the hip of a girl who already has a badonkadonk would be a good idea?!?

Charlize Theron

Oh Charlize...I'm so disappointed in you. Usually you don't let me down but this was AWFUL. The colors didn't work for you at all. The dress looks like a cross between something I would have seen at my prom and something Madonna would have worn in 1985.

Zoe Saldana

This one I was torn on because I LOVE the bodice but I HATE the skirt. What the heck is up with this giant ruffle trend? This one kind of reminds me of Chiquita Banana lady. But in the end Zoe Saldana is just so beautiful that she could basically pull off anything.

Vera Farmiga

Like the color, hate the ruffles. Again with the accentuating the hips and not doing ANYTHING for her figure. NO MORE RUFFLES!!!

Paula Patton
The main mistake with this dress for me was the color. A more muted orange could have worked but this one was just too much of orangey-orange. Also not the greatest fit or fabric for a pregnant lady, in my opinion. The round belly + the orange color starts to remind you of the fruit...

All in all, I thought there were more misses than hits this year, which is surprising and disappointing. I had about 10 other photos marked for "The Bads" but I figured I would try to only highlight the worst of them.

There was a definite trend towards golden hues {yay!} and ruffles {nay!}. I think the ruffles COULD work if they were used in a more subtle way. Think a ruffle on the bottom of the skirt or on the shoulder...not giant ruffles wrapping all the way around the dress!

The hair and makeup was impressive this year, I thought. I didn't see any major "oh no!" type hair styles, with the exception of maybe Sarah Jessica Parker's signature Severe Up-Do {as I like to call it}, but we've seen that one out of her before so it was no surprise.

On a non-fashion note, I was also very disappointed in the Best Director and Best Picture win, The Hurt Locker. I haven't seen it, but from what I hear it's not sitting well with most military types because of the gross inacuracy of it's portrayal of an Army EOD team. I'm all for military movies that ACCURATELY and non-politically convey the message, like Taking Chance for example.

All photos from TMZ.com

Near NuWay {What's for Dinner? 3/7/2010}

There's this place in Wichita, KS {Alex's hometown} called NuWay Cafe that holds a special place in both Alex's and my heart. They make the most amazing, crave-worthy loosemeat beef sandwiches. Every time we go to Wichita we make sure we stop at NuWay for a delicious lunch. {I had never heard of loosemeat sandwiches until visiting Wichita...apparently it's a Midwestern thing.}

In the months between visits to our beloved NuWay, we often find ourselves craving the sandwiches but not having any way to satisfy the craving. Well, this recipe was our answer. It tastes very, very similar to NuWay sandwiches, which was VERY exciting to us! What makes it even better, is that these are super easy to make and consists of ingredients that we almost always have on hand.


We served our Near NuWays in hot dog buns {because we didn't have any hamburger buns} topped with mustard and dill pickles. On the side we had sweet potato oven fries {that I accidentally overcooked...oops}.

Denim, Diamonds & Steak {What's for Dinner? 3/6/2010}

Saturday night we had a Denim & Diamonds event with Alex's unit to go to. It was a celebration of the guys being home from Iraq and a fun time was had. There were some really nice people who provided a free steak dinner for all of us...apparently they go around donating steaks to soldiers and families all over the world. Pretty cool, huh?

I curled my hair with my new hot rollers and busted out my {very uncomfortable} cowboy boots for the event. Yeehaw! :)

We got to hang out with these cool peeps.


And there may even have been some bull riding involved {but not for me...I was wearing a dress so that was a no-go}.

Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk + Nostalgia {What's for Dinner? 3/5/2010}

Last night I came home from work in a foul mood and this close to being in tears. It was just one of those days where I felt defeated, both personally and professionally. Luckily, I have an amazing husband who wrapped me up in his arms and told me everything was going to be okay. Then he told me to go relax and he would take care of dinner.

Of course, because I'm a control freak, I ended up helping make dinner anyway but it was a team effort. Then we ate dinner and proceeded to watch an episode of Parks & Recreation {I really wanted to watch True Blood Season 2 and I thought we could find it On Demand but alas we couldn't...so this was our second choice}.

We had never watched this show before but it turns out it's totally HILARIOUS! It's a lot like The Office in the way it's filmed and the humor {which is okay with us because we love The Office}. We ended up watching all 4 episodes of it that were available On Demand for free and it was great.

After we finished watching the shows I started feeling nostalgic so I made Alex tell me the story again of how he decided he wanted to propose to me and how he went about planning it all. I love that story. It makes me happy. :)

When he finished the story he said "Hold on one second" and went to put our engagement video in the DVD player. I don't think we'd watched it since we've been married so it was so fun to relive it all again. And just because I feel like it, here are some photos from September 2, 2006:

Realizing what's happening

Will you marry me? under the Century Tree

Saber Arch

Suddenly a horrible start to my Friday night turned into a wonderful date night with my husband. I love when that happens!

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NOW, enough blabbing. Dinner was a delicious Thai-ish shrimp dish! Here is the original recipe for Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk that we bookmarked but we realized that the recipe was a bit off on some of the measurements so below I will post the recipe the way we did it.

We served the shrimp over brown rice, which is really a must since this make SO much extra sauce. You have to have something to soak it all up! We also made some simple roasted snap peas on the side. All I did for those is toss them in some olive oil & kosher salt and then just roasted on a sheet pan for about 15-20 minutes in the oven on 400 degrees.


Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk

Ingredients

* 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
* 2 tablespoons coriander
* 1/4 teaspoon cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
* 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
* 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes {The original recipe wouldn't have been spicy at ALL so I think it's a little ridiculous that it is called Spicy Shrimp in Coconut Milk. We added the red pepper flakes to add some spice.}
* 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
* 1 can unsweetened coconut milk {NOTE: We had never cooked with coconut milk before so when we first opened up the can and found the milk solidified and separated we were very close to throwing it away. However, upon googling, we found out that is perfectly normal. All you have to do is stir it up. So don't be afraid of solidified coconut milk!}
* 1/2 cup water
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 pound shrimp, peeled and cleaned
* 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
* lime wedge (for serving)
* Cooked rice

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet on medium heat.

2. Add onions and cook for 3 minutes.

3. Add garlic and ginger, cook 2 minutes.

4. Add all the spices, cook 1 minute.

5. Add tomatoes, cook 1 minute.

6. Add coconut milk,water, and salt, and bring to a simmer.

7. Simmer until thickened 5-10 minutes.

8. Add shrimp, simmer, stirring for 5 minutes.

9. Stir in cilantro.

10. Serve over rice with lime wedges.

Brinner {What's for Dinner? 3/4/2010}

Alex and I both love breakfast {most important meal of the day right?!?} and sometimes when we're at a loss as to what to eat for dinner we choose BRINNER! It's simple, cheap and tasty...just the way we like it!

Alex found this recipe for Beer Pancakes online and we decided to try it. We used Shiner Bock beer. I wasn't quite sure what to think about them but they were definitely fluffier than normal pancakes made with Bisquick and they tasted good too! It's a keeper!

That would be beer pancakes with margarine & strawberries, a fried egg (overeasy) and grilled bacon!

Alex recently discovered that you can cook bacon on the grill and he's all about another opportunity to use his grill...

All he does is make a little "pan" out of 2 layers of aluminum foil and then he folds up the sides. Then you just crank up the grill and lay the bacon on it. Cool, huh?