Brussels Fries.

This time of year, since it's busy season, I'm L. A. Z. Y. in the kitchen. Which actually means I don't want to do the dishes. I don't mind the cooking part. Insert frozen pizza {here}.

So, can I convince myself to maybe muster up the energy to slice up two bags of Trader Joe's pre-washed  trimmed Brussels Sprouts? Ugh, fine. Three minutes later, they are in the big bowl and I decide that wasn't so bad. Must. Pre. Heat. Oven...my life is SO. HARD. Just kidding, if you can't tell, I'm being a drama queen.

Preheat oven to 400. Generously coat your sprouts with good quality olive oil {because you'll taste it}. Season with sea salt, pepper, and add a fun spice like cumin or paprika...or go out on a limb and be dangerous...add both.

Pour your bowl of seasoned sprouts on a foil lined cookie sheet {did I mention I was not in the mood for dishes?}. Turn all of their little faces up and put into the oven. Ignore & Bake for 45 minutes.

Unlike the frozen pizza I would have been eating, these little nuggets are packed with fiber, more than your daily dose of vitamins K & C, and contain DNA protective benefits. Read the entire nutritional profile here and feel fabulous about yourself while eating.

If you are even lazier than me and refuse to read the above, here is my recipe in short lazy cavewoman form:

Ingredients

2 bags trimmed & washed trader joe's brussels sprouts (or aprx 2 lbs)

olive oil (about 1/4 cup)

sea salt

pepper

optional: other seasonings (cumin, curry powder, paprika, etc)

preheat oven to 400 degrees. cut all sprouts in half and place in a large bowl. liberally pour three or four rounds of olive oil into bowl and stir. add seasonings to taste. stir again. pour onto foil covered cookie sheet. bake for 45 minutes. enjoy.

Sort of too good to be true that these taste exactly like french fries... I promise, they are not.

Happy Hour.

I think I have an illness, and the only thing to cure it is more mustard yellow. And grey. And a pair of louboutins. Put this on with red lipstick, and you are all ready for happy hour. TGIF! Just kidding if you are an accountant like me...happy Thursday, to you.

San Francisco Happy Hour by kschnaible featuring gucci eyewear

Mac & Cheese.

Busy season is in full swing. {busy season in tax is February-April 15th} I'm working 10+ hour weekdays and going into the city on Saturdays. I don't know what it is about that schedule that makes me want all that is cheesy and salty, but it's a force that sometimes I cannot fight. It might have something to do with the fact that there isn't a lot of time for a hot meal at regular hours. Usually I'm getting home at 7 or 8 and I just want to stand over the sink and eat cottage cheese and stare at the colors on the tv. Sometimes, you just need a cheat day.

Enter my variation on Nancy Reagan's baked mac & cheese recipe. No, that is not a close-up of what my arteries now look like after eating one serving of this baked cheesy casserole deliciousness. Well, maybe. But I'm still not regretting it. Ok, maybe that's a lie. I might as well share the recipe so I can bring all of you down with me.

Ingredients

1/2 pound of elbow pasta or penne {I used trader joe's penne with 6 g fiber per serving...justification?}

1 tablespoon butter

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon mustard

3 cups shredded cheese of your choice, the sharper the better {i used sharp cheddar}

1 cup milk

1/4 cup fine breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350. Boil pasta and drain. Mix salt and mustard in 1 tablespoon hot water and add to milk. Return pasta to pan {away from heat} stir in butter and egg. Stir in cheese, leaving enough for sprinkling on the top. Pour pasta mixture into a greased 9x9 baking dish. Pour milk over pasta. Top with bread crumbs, and then the rest of the cheese. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until top is golden and bubbly.

Whoa.

Cozy.

I cannot get enough of anything mustard yellow. Or of kitties that are black.

Cozy Chic. by kschnaible featuring knit infinity scarves

My Valentine.

I love love.

I have always loved Valentine's Day. Some people hate it for their own reasons, but even when I was young and single and whatever, I still loved this holiday. Dare I say it's my favorite? No, I love Christmas and Fourth of July and...well, I love any reason to celebrate anything, really.

I love Valentine's Day because it is an excuse to tell the people in my life that I care about how much I love them. Girl, boy, family, friend. Everyone. I think people like to hear that.

This year was a very laid back Valentine's Day for us. Jack had to study {surprise}. Like, pull-an-all-nighter-the-night-before-take-a-test-that-day-study-till-midnight-that-night study. Sooo, I ordered our favorite chinese food for delivery, we ate on the couch with each other, opened the little gifts we surprised each other with, and that was that. It was nice. I actually preferred it to going out. I just enjoyed having him to myself for an hour.

I surprised him with a watch box.

And he surprised me with this cute little heart ring.

I wish that was a better picture. Excuse my dry, wintery, old lady hands, ugh. The part I love the most about it is that he went to pick it out without me as a surprise. It seriously wouldn't matter if it were made of a bread tie, I would still love it because he thought of me. But the best part is that it's not made of a bread tie...its fabulous, had diamonds, and i LOVE it. And my Valentine. Sigh.