Baked Asparagus

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I did pretty well this year and did not feel like I wanted to burst after it was all said and done.  This year my husband and I went over to his moms house and for the first time in the 4 years we have been married she called and asked me to bring something.  It was a big deal for me and I wanted to make sure to bring something super YUMMY.  So I browsed through my Pinterest boards and was inspired by...baked asparagus  I thought that would be the perfect thing and that it would look vibrant next to all the orange and brown foods.. you know carrots, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes stuffing's.

Unfortunately I was in such a hurry Thanksgiving morning and so strapped for time that I TOTALLY spaced taking pictures and everything.  So I am SO sorry but you will just have to take my word for it. The pictures used are not my own here but still they are exactly what I did.

Before getting started I looked at a few different versions of this recipe.  The one I have posted on Pinterest says bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.  I ended up doing 425 degrees for 6 minutes. Like I said I was on a time crunch and every minute counted!

I bought the thinnest bunch that I could find because I personally do not like thick asparagus.  I washed it then chopped off the bottoms and then placed them in a Ziploc bag.

Some of the recipes say to just drizzle but I wanted to coat mine in my seasonings.  I used a gallon size bag and I prefer the slider bag like this picture is of.  I just feel it is more secure.  I placed the asparagus inside then I poured in some olive oil, minced garlic then salt and pepper.  I sealed the bag and then placed it on my counter and rolled my hand over it, making the asparagus roll around in the seasonings.  

Then I unzipped my bag and spread the asparagus evenly on my cookie sheet with parchment paper ( this is a must , it made clean up so much easier).  Then of course I popped it in the oven.

at minute 5 I opened my over pulled out the tray and sprinkled parmesan cheese over the asparagus then popped it back in for another minute. 

And even though this is not my picture I can honestly say that they really did look this green and delicious! 

Actually mine looked yummier than this.. they were a very bright green.  And when I took it over to my mother in laws it was a hit with almost every spear eaten and people were wanting to know the recipe.

Usually making asparagus is hard for me, I always over cook it so it is droopy and soggy but this recipe was amazing because I finally cooked a perfect textured asparagus.  They still had a nice crunch but were not raw and they tasted great! I would recommend this to everybody!

Amazing Places

One of my favorite things to see people post on Pinterest are beautiful pictures of different places in the world.  One of my boards that I have titled " Our beautiful world" is dedicated to this.  Recently I found this amazing photo of Gimmelwald, Switzerland. It is absolutely stunning.  I have been to Gimmelwald and it is such a beautiful place.  It, like many other cities in Switzerland, is high up in the alps and you reach it  by train, gondolas, or hiking.  This city in particular you actually take a train, then a bus then a gondola.  We did that and then hiked back down.  It was SO beautiful.  Honestly one of the most stunning places I have been, and this photo really expresses how this little town truly is.  Enjoy it.

Baking Eggs

Eggs anyone?  I Saw on pinterest that you can bake eggs in muffin tins at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes. So I tried it out.  I was not really sure how they would turn out, but honestly I loved them! SO EASY! and so great for egg sandwhiches, or if you are making pancakes and want some eggs, forget about the griddle, the smoke and the smell of eggs in your hours.  JUST BAKE THEM!

I greased my pan with Pam.  Cracked my eggs into the muffin cups and seasoned them...

 (adding things like spinach, bacon bits and other things would really make these even better)

I popped them in my oven for 15 min.

and

TADA!

Seriously everyone needs to try this! For a big breakfast for the whole family this is a great way to cook eggs. It lets you multi task for making pancakes, waffles, bacon, mixing juice, or setting the table! They also save for up to a week. I made this last night and re-heated one this morning and put it on my toast. Super yummy. This is a perfect recipe for those special breakfast mornings and to keep on hand for later in the wee! It gets a full  A+ !

La Catrina

I know its after Halloween but still I am going to post this.  I saw on Pinterest the coolest way paint your face.  It is called La Catrina or Sugar Skull.  In Mexico they celebrate the Day of the Dead not Halloween and it is really popular to paint your face like this.

 When I saw it on Pinterest I had to try it.  I had seen the La Catrina figurines when I was in Mexico, but I had never seen some one paint there face like it.  I looked at a lot of pictures before deciding on a style and I watched a really helpful you tube video as well.

This really helped me out as far as having a basic idea of how to apply and design.

At first I went out and just bought your typical Halloween face make up that you would get from a Halloween store.  I got the white creme make up to make you look really pale and then I got the black creme make up.  I got a few different colors in the crayon style applicator of face paint make up.  I thought this would all be great. It was what I had used before to make myself look like a witch or a zombie for Halloween   However when I got started on this project using this make up, it turned out totally disastrous!

The creme make up was not going on smooth at all and it dried super quick! It would crack when I smiled and it looked really sheer in spots and heavy in others.  I tried my best to keep going and make it work with the other make up but I just ran into problem after problem.  I could not make the designs with any of the Halloween store make up.  My black eyeliner pencil did not go on well at all.

I was SO frustrated and really put out about it.  So I washed it all off, jumped in my car and ran to Walmart.  I bought a Cover Girl liquid foundation in the absolute palest color I could find.  I bought Wet N Wild creme make up pencils in different colors.  I bought some orange creme eye shadow and basically just got normal make up but in crazy colors.  Then I went and I bought some white powder.  Yes white.  If you go to Hot Topic you can by a compact of face make up just like you would get a compact of face make up at the grocery store, in your skin tone, but at Hot Topic you can get it in stark white.

So I went home and I used wedges to put on the Cover Girl liquid concealer.  I put it all over my face and my neck.  Then I took my Hot Topic white powder and I applied that all over my face and neck.  In the exact way you would apply your daily foundation.  Since I was using normal make up this time I did not worry about avoiding my eye area. I went right over it.  I followed the same steps as in the video I shared  I just used everyday make up instead.  I used creme eye liner to line my lids and around my orbital area then filled it in with a creme black eye shadow. It worked so much better. Then for fun I put gold shimmer powder on top for dimension.  After I got all of that on I just stared at picture after picture and referred to that youtube video and just got creative with application.  All I used where different colored creme eye shadows and eye liners.  It worked out GREAT.  I would have to constantly wipe off my eye liner pencils because the white powder would come off on it but that was fine.  I should have sharpened the pencils  more, it would have helped keep everything more defined and smooth looking.

This whole process took me an hour and a half because I was not sure how I wanted to do the designs and I kept staring at pictures.  In the end this is what it ended up looking like.

I put on fake eyelashes too, they really topped this look off.  Again all I used was normal make up aside and from the Hot Topic white face powder compact, I got everything at Walmart.  Once I got going I just played around and went over lines with different colors to add dimension.  I loved this project.  I wore it to school for Halloween and it got a lot of attention and compliments.  HOWEVER in my opinion do not use the typical Halloween make up and  brushes.  They did not work AT ALL!! Do what I did and just use all the fun crazy colors of make up at your local grocery store.