Yummy In My Tummy

Since one of the things I do as an au pair is helping prepare dinner, I've decided to start having a little bit of fun with it! Because I was never much of a chef at home, picking what to make for dinner can sometimes be a struggle - all that would usually come to mind back home would be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or a grilled cheese or a microwavable pizza - but because I'm preparing a meal for a family, I hardly think those things would be good choices! Pinterest has definitely influenced a lot, probably most, of the meals I've made! The past two days have both been recipes I chose from the website! (Which I have become addicted to. Like really. I'm addicted.) Yesterday I made stuffed bell peppers! This was definitely the most delicious meal I've prepared, and it was so pretty! AND easy to make! AND pretty cheap!

Ingredients:

• 4 medium red bell peppers cut in half (I ate two halves and was full - depends on how many people you're cooking for and how big their bellies are!)
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 box of brown rice (I ended up using about 2/3 of it)
• Mexican Blend/ Cheddar cheese
• 1 onion
• Olive Oil
• Turkey/Chicken (The recipe said turkey but I used chicken and it was great!)
• Salsa
• Scallions

Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Farenheit.
2. Cut your bell peppers in half. In a dish, put your peppers cut side down into the dish with a half cup of water. Place in the microwave for 1 minute. This softens up the peppers a bit. If you want to skip this step, just leave the peppers in the oven a little longer!
3. In a pan, put some olive oil in and your onions. Cook the onions until they look translucent.
4. Add the meat and cook until brown.
5. Combine above ingredients with the black beans, rice, and salsa and let cook in the pan until warm.
6. Scoop the beans, rice, salsa, meat, and onion evenly into each pepper.
7. Cover the peppers with foil and and place in the oven. Set your timer for 30 minutes.
8. Once the 30 minutes is up, take the peppers out and remove the foil. Sprinkle some cheese atop each pepper and put back in the oven for 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
9. Put some scallions on top of the peppers, serve and enjoy! :)

The dish I made tonight, is a dish I probably wouldn't normally eat - Quinoa. It is defintely an acquired tasted but I added some things to liven it up a bit :)

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Quinoa
• 1 bell pepper (I used red)
• 1 medium cucumber
• 1/2 cup of cilantro
• 3/4 cup lime (I just used 2 limes)
• 1 shallot/onion finely cut (can use a food processor)
• 1 clove garlic (finely smashed)
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 avocados

 

Directions:

 

1. Cook the Quinoa and then let sit for a few hours or refridgerate so it cools down. (This is a dish served cold.)
2. Cut up the bell pepper and cucumber into small pieces, along with the cilantro which you want to cut into very small bits, and mix into the cooled down Quinoa.
3. In another bowl, add the shallot/onion, garlic, and squeeze the limes in there. Let it sit and soak for about ten minutes. Then add the extra virgin olive oil.
4. Mix the dressing you just made into your Quinoa!
5. And then you can either cut up the avocado and place on top when serving, or you can cut into small pieces and mix into the Quinoa which is what I did! Easy Peasy!! Enjoy :)

So I'm definitely having my fair share of fun in the kitchen, and I hope I can learn a lot more recipes to come so I can come home and make them all for you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When In Rome...

When in Rome... you must record the places you go and things you see to make a video of your trip! :)  So, here it is!

Divertimento a Roma

My Roman Holiday

Today I had to say Arrivederci to Rome and be on my way back to Holland. It was a very bittersweet goodbye! There's no way I can put into words how amazingly wonderful Rome was, but I will definitely try my hardest to paint a picture for you!

Day 1:

Our flight took off around 11:30, so we didn't land into Rome until 2:30ish. I can't believe I managed to sleep at all on the flight there because I was beyond excited! When we landed, we waited for a bus to take us into the heart of Rome so we could find our hotel! The best way I can describe the bus ride is like a rollercoaster. The feeling you get when you're chugging up to the tippy top of the hump - the nervous/butterflies in your stomach/so excited you're about to scream kind of feeling.. well that's the feeling I had the whole time on the bus. And then everytime we saw something huge, like the Colosseum or a ginormous beautiful church - that's when the "drop" happened. I honestly squealed with excitement a bunch of times. :) Once we got to our hotel (which was very nice compared to the last hostel I stayed in) we put our things down and hit the road!

By the time we left the hotel, it was already dark outside! Our first stop was the Santa Maria Church since it was the closest thing to us!

 

Then, after the Church, we made our way to the Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi (where we had ourselves some AMAZING pizza and delicious gelato), and then to the Colosseum! We decided that although it was night time, it was our first day there so we still wanted to see as much as possible! And even though we would go to these places again the next day or two, now we could see them at night as well :)

 

 

And by the time we walked to all those places, our feet were so tired and it was pretty late so we headed back to our hostel, all ready to go to bed so we could get started on our first full day in Rome!

 

 

Day 2:

We started off our Saturday morning with some nice hot chocolate and chocolate croissants before heading out on our adventure! The first thing on our agenda was Vatican City!! On our way to the underground Metro, we walked by the Santa Maria Church again, and boy... it was more beautiful in the day light!

 

We took the metro to Vatican City and went to the Vatican Museum. The line was extremely long. I'm pretty sure we were in line for an hour - so you can imagine how anxious we were!

 

We finally went in and it was soooooo beautiful. Every room was just out of this world spectacular. If we had more time, we could've spent hours and hourse there just staring at the ceilings!

 

At the end of the museum tour, we got to walk through the Sistine Chapel. I almost cried. I've seen so many pictures of the iconic ceiling... but to see it in person - there are no words. I was upset we couldn't take any pictures, but the memory is embedded in my brain. We just stood and looked up for such a long time - I didn't even want to leave! It was unreal. After we left there, we made our way over to Sant'Angelo's castle! It was so beautiful, I can't believe someone actually lived here!

 

And THEN we went to St. Peter's Basilica which was beyond amazing. Looking at it from the outside is one thing, but being on the inside is a totally different world. The ceilings, the walls, the floors - I definitely think this was my favorite place. There was one part that was closed off to visitors from taking pictures so people could actually go in there and pray - I asked if it was okay if I went in to pray and the guy who was guarding the area let me. We sat there in silence for a good amount of time just admiring everything around us, and then of course I said a couple prayers for some people close to me who may have needed it. The feeling of being inside there was just astounding. It was amazing.

The rest of the day was left for us to do basically what we wanted! So we walked the streets of Rome until our feet were so tired we wanted to fall over and die. It was so amazing though. Painful, but worth every step!

 

Day 3:



We reserved our last day in Rome for, of course, the Colosseum. I can't believe I got to see it and touch it and be in it. The feeling was so surreal I couldn't even believe where I was. I'm glad we saved this for the last day because it was the cherry on top of a great big delicious gelato :)

 

So... overall, I'd say my trip to Rome was awesome, and since I threw a coin (make that 3) into the Fontana di Trevi, my chances of coming back to this lovely place are so high I know it will happen again. Until next time, Arrivederci Rome :)

 





Baby Laughs

Today just happened to be a lovely and more relaxed day! I woke up, had some breakfast with the family, and once the parents and Beau left, it was just Annebelle and me! She is the cutest little thing, I tell ya! I'll do just about anything to make her laugh and smile! (Yesterday while I was cooking dinner, Annebelle was in a little baby recliner type thing on the floor and wanted some attention - Since I was handling food I decided to turn on some Britney Spears and dance around. She was immediately entertained. In fact, when the song was over and I stopped dancing she started crying again. Soooooo Britney Spears and my amazing dance skills were on repeat until dinner was finished being prepared!) Well, once Annebelle had her bottle and I hung out with her for a while she went to sleep! I did a load of laundry, and then went to watching the last episode left on Netflix of Downton Abbey. I can't believe they only have one season on Netflix! I'm already so addicted, it's fabulous! Since that's over, I'll have to find a new show that fancies my interest on Netflix that I can watch all episodes of over the course of a week haha. Also today, just like the last few days, we've been having these weird hail storm spells! Almost every hour it will start hailing madly for about 5 minutes then stop. And then start up again withing the next hour or so. Weird, but fascinating to look at! As the day went on, Annebelle got hungry, pooped, laughed, slept, cried, played, and then that whole process just keeps repeating itself until the end of the day!! In between her laughing and her drooling she does these adorable little baby laughs that I love! It's going to be so much fun to watch her grow! Even though I'm only going to be here until October - which seems like a long time now but I truly believe it will fly by - Annebelle is going to grow so quickly! I'm going to see her start crawling, and maybe even walking, and hopefully saying her first word! This is such a great experience not only because I'm in a whole new place and because I get to travel and meet new people, but because I can hopefully change this family's life for the better, and become more and more a part of this family and a part of their lives. There have been a few days where I have missed my family tons but I've talked to friends and family who all are so envious of what I'm doing and what they're all saying is right! When I get back to the States I'm going to want to be back here. When I get back to the States nothing will have really even changed, but me. Everything and everyone will be the same. I'm going to enjoy the time I spend here - each and every day. I'm going to make everything count and accomplish and see as much as I can! So I won't look back on this amazing experience and regret the time I had here. I'm going to make the most of everything and I can't wait to come back home and tell everyone my stories and share my wonderful experience with all of you! :)

Wind Through My Hair

So yesterday was such a great Sunday! Normally my Sundays are always great, but this one was exceptionally great! I got to ride the scooter around! I ended up not riding it around my own little village and by the sea as I had originally planned, but instead rode it to a village called Bergen which was so beautiful! The whole ride there it was like I was riding through a forest, and then once I got there it was just this cute little village where the houses were gorgeous and the food was quite delicious - I stopped into a restaurant while I was there and had hot chocolate and a slice of cake :) Soon I will roam around my own little town and take pictures, but in the meantime, here are some lovely pictures of my adventure, and even a little video I put together of moments I captured along the way! I hope you enjoy and feel like you were right there with me!

Click Here For The Video :)