Guacamole Joy!

You are looking at a new Pescetarian! *round of applause* I am about 4 months in.  Basically, I am a vegetarian who eats fish. My taste buds have been changing for awhile now and I have had to experiment with different fruits and vegetable recipes to keep my food interesting.  My recent food crave has Avocados. I love them! I put them in my salads, my omelettes, and I even grill them. To switch it up a little I decided to find a guacamole recipe on Pinterest. Side note: Don’t you just love Pinterest?

The Guacamole recipe I found was traced back to the blog Gluten Free Mommy. I think I will be trying a few more of the recipes on there. Her blog is awesome!

The Quacamole recipe is divided into two parts, the Pico de Gallo and the Guacamole. I posted both:

PICO DE GALLO

4 cups fresh tomatoes, diced (plum tomatoes are a good choice)

1 cup onions

1/2 cup cilantro

2 or 3 Tablespoons jalapeno (this is to taste)

juice of one small lime

3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions: In a med. bowl, combine your ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours (or overnight) before serving.

GUACAMOLE

4 avocados (large)

1/2 cup pico de gallo (see recipe above)

juice of one small lime

1 tsp of minced garlic

1 tsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, minced

1 tsp salt

Directions: Pit and score the avocados. Scoop out the avocado “meat” and put in med. bowl. Squeeze lime juice over the avocados. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Play with the consistency of the guacamole. Mash some of the avocados (don’t overdo it) and leave others in chunky pieces. Makes a little more than 2 cups.

I adjusted the recipe a little bit so it would be to my liking. I put a little more Pico de Gallo in my Guacamole recipe than it called for, which made it very tasty to me. I also put a lot of garlic and jalapeno into it. It gave it a great kick! I made it twice. Once will all hard avocados and the second time with all soft avocados. Next time I am going to do half and half. I don’t like the mushy texture and when it is too hard it makes it difficult to pit and score the avocados. Half and half will probably be just right!

I had a lot of taste testers (thanks ladies) and all reported that they thought it was delicious! It looks like this recipe is a keeper!

I do have one small piece of advice for you if you are cutting jalapeno peppers: do not lean in too close and do not take a huge breath! Your lungs will thank you for it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hats Galore!

Happy New Year everyone!! I am very excited for 2013 and what is to come for this year. I have a few things in the works and some new projects that I am very excited about. I cannot wait to share them with you! I did not make any New Year’s Resolutions this year. I have a lot of things I am constantly working on since 2012 and I realize that we are all always a work in progress. New Year’s resolutions are great though…I just did not make any specific ones on top of my other goals. I am following this quote I heard someone say….

 ”People make New Year’s resolutions, but we are into making lifetime solutions.” – Shawn Blanchard

I wish this year to be very awesome for all of my readers. One important thing I want to mention is that if you do not know Jesus, than I hope you get to know Him now. You do not want to live this year, or your life, without Him! If you have not received Him, at the bottom of this post is a prayer you can pray to accept Him into your heart.

• Admit your need (I am a sinner).
• Be willing to turn from your sins (repent).
• Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose from the grave.
• Through prayer, invite Jesus Christ to come in and control your life through the Holy Spirit. (Receive Him as Lord and Savior.)

When you do this, you will experience life like you have never experienced it before! I am a witness to that!

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name.
Amen.

Scriptures

That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
—Romans 10:9

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
—Ephesians 2:8–9

After you have prayed this, find a local church near you and connect with them. They will help you along your journey and uplift you and encourage.

Love you all! Happy New Year!

- Elizabeth

How To Know Jesus

 

12/12/12 Deleted

I just did a whole long post in honor of 12/12/12 but I accidentally deleted it. Yes, I am mad! Anyways I wanted to make my mark because a time where the day, month, and year will be the same will not be until January 1, 3001: 1/1/01.

So here is my shoutout. Happy 12/12/12!!!!

Do You Know What’s In Your Food?

I just finished watching the documentary Food, Inc. all I can say is, “WOW!” My eyes were opened to a whole level deeper of the story behind this country’s food. Instead of giving a detailed review on it, I will say that it is a must-see for those who want their eyes opened and who are ready to change their way of life. Check out this website: GMO Woes.

What’s wrong with the picture below? Do you know what’s in your food? Do you know where it comes from?

Living Fearless

I recently was a nanny to a family who had this fearless little girl. She was not afraid of anything except, as she said, really really big big heights. She was a gymnast and showed me all of her flips, dives, and tumbles all in her backyard. We even got on the trampoline where she tried to coax me into doing a flip backwards. The thing that really got me was when we got to the swings. She leaned back further than normal, did twists in the air while the swing was going, and tried to do acrobatic surf moves. Now as a nanny, I do not want any kids to get hurt on my watch. Aside from the occasional bumps and bruises that naturally come with any childhood experience, it is not something I want to experience or explain to parents. As I was watching this girl, I fought against myself telling her to get down or to stop, and resisting the phrase, “stop that so you don’t hurt yourself.”

I had an epiphany in that moment as I was thinking that . . . when did I stop living life fearlessly? I used to do those same moves on the swing set and I would actually fly off of it in fun. Kids push themselves and literally have no fear. If anything, they want to see how far their body will take them.  That fear that is learned over time manifests as so many different things for different people.

I want to be fearless again, where nothing holds me back. I used to be that little girl with the wind in her face who wanted to be everything when she grew up! So it is time to do things like travel more, try new recipes more, go out dancing more, do more things in culture, and just live life! Of course being fearless is more than just enjoying the pleasantries in life. It is about living your purpose to the fullest and stepping out on faith!  It is time for me to live out those things that God has purposed in my heart and pray some things out! My favorite scripture is Jeremiah 29:11 -

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. (Jer 29:11 KJV)

God has BIG plans for us, but in order for us to walk in what He has mapped out, we cannot be controlled by fear. We have to trust him and live by faith! A lot of times, that takes stepping outside of your comfort zone. I have recently had to do that a lot and it has been pretty tough on me, but I am starting to see the results and it is well worth it! Letting doubt and discouragement peek in creates someone on the sidelines. It will be how I felt nannying wishing that I could do those flips and dives without worrying if I would break something. So I am not going to be held back by fear. Be fearless!

No Fear – Be Fearless

Be Beauty!

I am way off of my blogging game. It has been way too long! I am sorry for anybody out there reading, though I don’t blame you for dropping it off of your radar.

So what has been up with me? Hmmm….I have been keeping up with fashion. Which reminds me, I think I am going to blog about my favorite outfits designed from Project Runway. I have been wanting to do this for awhile. Don’t worry, I don’t and almost never always agree with the judges.

I have noticed a few beauty tips that are either hot right now, or out.

1. Fake Eyelashes – I hear men hate them (sorry men), but they are in right now. Not the really thick ones like the ones Lil’ Kim wears, but the long thin fancy ones worn like Kim Kardashian. I really want someone to do my lashes like this soon, or maybe not as much but something similar. Eyelashes are the one thing I have not tried yet. I don’t trust myself to do them on my own, so I need to find  a nice place that can do them up like this.

Kim Kardashian with flawless eyes

 

2. Natural Nails – Personally, I am over the long fake nails with acrylic, gel, or whatever else you use, but that is just me! No hate to those who love it. Do YOU boo! After all, everything is relative to opinion. I saw this video clip/commercial of a new web series that is coming out with Kelly Cutrone. A makeup artist was saying, “I feel that lip liner and french manicures should have stayed in the 90′s,” or something almost exact to that. I tend to agree. French manicures can be very nice looking but I am a fan of the natural nails where you can experiment with a lot of bold or soft colors, or even a french manicure with different colors. My style right now is to spice it up! Different designs/prints are in too with the Crackle nail polish and the Sally Hanson press ones. Anyways, different looks look good on different fingers, which is the same as clothes looking good on different body types. This is my personal opinion and I know there are experts on beauty who disagree. Maybe because fake nails look bulky on me and plain wrong! Speaking of nails, I’ll be doing mine as soon as I finish this post.

Natural nails with color

Sally Hanson Press On Nails

3.  Arched/Shaped Eyebrows – I think a lot of women (and some men) will agree with me here in this. Nothing like a shaped or trimmed eyebrow. I don’t know what people used to do back in the day. Did they even shape their bushy brows? Well, I am glad we do now. I love seeing how different people get their eyes arched in different angles. It really transforms your face. Whether you use tweezers, wax, or threading (ouch!), go ahead with your bad brows! I am using Vanessa Williams as my example of ON POINT eyebrows. I used to watch a lot of Ugly Betty, who I am I kidding, I still do… and her eyebrows on that show were always flawless on point to a tee! I mean she was a boss with those brows! It was so hard to hate her because she looked so good!

My favorite TV villain Wilhelmina Slater, played by Vanessa Williams, doing her characteristic raised eyebrow

4. A Killer Smile – A smile will never do you wrong! A smile lightens a room and lights up a mood. It is always sad to see something dressed so fashionably with a mean scowl on their face. As a relationship expert, Paul C. Brunson would say, people need to stop mean mugging! I enjoy laughing and smiling, but when I am in deep thought, people have told me I scowl. Mean mugging is something I constantly have to remain aware of and concentrate on not doing because it is so easy for my face to go there. Also invest in a good dentist, toothpaste, and floss. You can never go wrong. Tip: Know your face!

I will let the video speak for itself.

 

Ok those are my opinions on what I have noticed. A lot of it is not brand new, but . . . #shrug

 

My Personal View On Batman

So I just finished seeing “The Dark Knight Rises”. Overall it was a good movie, but I will have to say I was disappointed in the ending. Wait, let me rewind and give a history of my relationship with Batman films and television. When I was growing up my parents had very strict rules on what I was allowed to watch as a child so I saw a lot of cartoons. As I grew older the Batman cartoons became one of my most beloved shows as I expanded my knowledge of popular TV. It became so beloved, I used to look forward to watching it every night it came on. It was like it was my personal soap opera. This made quite an impression on me as I came to love science fiction and superheros even more. In high school I saw for the first time the original Batman movies with Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney. These were good, but when I found out they were remaking it, I was happy we would have movies where technology can be used on a whole different level.

Now for the current movies I was very excited when they came out. I do believe that Christian Bale was a great pic because he pulls of a good Batman and Bruce Wayne and the acting in all three movies was great, especially in the second one. Heath Ledger put that movie on another level. Back to my opinion of this movie. The acting was good. People were skeptical of Anne Hataway playing Catwoman, but I have to give her credit because she did a good job. Marion Cotillard did a great job as always. Her performances are usually always flawless. I will admit, she had me fooled until I saw she was the real villian. Tom Hardy as Bane was epic. That man became a physical beast for this role. I did not recognize him by voice (of course from that mask) or by his physical appearance. I knew it was him before I went to see the movie but I would have never known. I’ll be watching out for him in other movies. Joseph Gordon-Levitt…swoon. I had a good hunch he would turn into Robin during the movie, but I hoped it would happen before the movie was ending. As a friend of mine said, he is a very underrated actor. He is very versatile and will have a lot of longevity like Meryl Streep and Michael Caine because they are that good. Again, this is my personal opinion.

By the way shout out to Christopher Nolan and the Inception actors (one of my favorite movies)! It was nice to see so many can represent in a different genre. With the plot, a lot was going on. A whole lot of characters and a whole lot of bad guys under Bane. It became easier to keep track of them because they all were eliminated by the final scenes and we were left with our basic good vs. bad vs. deciding to be good or bad.  Back to this ending though . . . I was not satisfied or happy. I would have preferred Batman to stay in the game. Yes he was old and out of shape, but it left off with no Batman and Robin team. Who is going to mentor him? Yeah he got to sneak off to Paradise with his Catwoman but really, no more Batman?!?

I am trying to have an open mind since I know that I can have a lot to say about movies and TV because I love the industry, film-making, and storytelling so much. I am not the director and I am not the producer so I have no say so in how the films should have been made, even though I have plenty to say now. I just never want to see Batman end. It is like I want him to be immortal and save the imaginary Gotham city forever. Wish it could be like that. Maybe I am just more upset that it had to end than I am upset about the actual ending of the movie. I wish they could just give me more. I am really sad Batman is over.