Beautiful Creatures movie

HEADS UP: If those people who see a movie and say every 5 minutes "That part wasn't in the book!" annoy you, don't read this. (But, if you read a book and then see the movie based on the book and say you don't compare the two, I think you're lying :)  )

So last night my sweet husband took me out for a movie date to see Beautiful Creatures. I have been dying to see this movie since I read all 4 Beautiful Creatures books (Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos, Beautiful Redemption). They are soooooo good! All the books really keep you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next.

And the first book was the best of the series. So, as we drive to the movie theater I chatter to my husband (who has not read any of the books) about how excited I am to see the movie and fill him in on key points from the book- because, let's face it, I'm not the greatest at keeping the endings a secret and my husband is so smart, he usually figures out what's going to happen half way through the movie anyways.

The movie starts, and the movie writers don't place enough emphasis on something I think is pretty important at the beginning of the book. Ok, no big deal, I think. The movie can't be exactly like the book, right?

But, as the movie continues, it quickly become apparent that Beautiful Creatures the movie is VASTLY different than Beautiful Creatures the book. Significant events to the plot line are either altered beyond recognition or completely left out, an instrumental character is eliminated from the movie, and the ending is pretty much totally different from the book.

Needless to say, I left the movie theater pretty darn disappointed.

The moral of the story: if you have read the Beautiful Creatures book, DO NOT SEE THE MOVIE!! You will be sad :(  If you haven't read the book, see the movie and don't ever read the book. For real.

National Tortilla Chip Day

I loooove my crock pot! Actually, I love cooking with my crock pot so much, I have 2 so I can use them 2 nights in a row even if I don't get around to doing the dishes the first night. So, to celebrate National Tortilla Chip Day tomorrow, Feb 24th, I'm sharing a delicious recipe for the crock pot and, of course, a homemade tortilla chip recipe.

My Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe is so easy and simple. It also uses ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen right now.

Ingredients:

First take your chicken and put it in the bottom of your crock pot.

 

Next, add your Rotel, whole kernel corn, and black beans. Coarsely chop bell pepper and onion; add these to the crock pot.



Add minced garlic, chili powder, and chicken broth. Stir to combine, then cover and cook on high 4 hours or low 8 hours.

After the soup is finished cooking, remove the chicken breast with a slotted spoon, place on a cutting board, and shred it. The chicken should really just fall apart as you shred it.

Return the chicken to your crock pot, ladle into bowls, top with cheese/ sour cream/ tortilla chips (I used my homemade chips), and enjoy!

 

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken breast
• 15oz can whole kernel corn, undrained
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves (about 2 tsp) minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp salt
• Toppings: tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, whatever you like!

Directions:

Layer chicken breast on bottom of crock pot. Add next 9 ingredients to crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. After cooking, remove chicken breast and place on cutting board. Shred chicken and add back to crock pot. Ladle soup into bowl, top with desired toppings, and enjoy!

My square foot garden

My husband and I decided to give gardening a try (again!). Well, last year's failed attempt wasn't really our fault. I was in a bad car wreck last April and broke 3 vertebrae right smack in the middle of my back. Yeah, it was even less fun than it sounds like. Anyways, we decided to try again this year, and we started early so we could enjoy some of the yummy cool weather crops like onions, lettuce, and carrots.

I'm going to give a quick overview of the process and them break it down into more detail in future posts, so check back next week!

We researched several gardening methods before deciding on the Square Foot Gardening Method. It's awesome. This book is pretty much the gold standard for this method and it was extremely helpful. I highly recommend it. Basically, you build a 4x4 box from untreated lumber (or any size really, whatever works for your space), fill it up 6in deep with "Mel's mix", plant your veggies, and watch them grow! Of course, you do need to water occasionally, but the beauty of this gardening method is that it is soooo much less work intensive than the traditional row-method.

The "Mel's mix" that you use as the soil in your gardening box is made up of:

• 1/3 peat moss
• 1/3 compost
• 1/3 Vermiculite

A word to the wise- Vermiculite (the element of the soil mix meant to retain water) is VERY expensive. If you look around at Vermiculite, you will find that it has a cheaper cousin, Perlite. DON'T BUY EITHER OF THEM. First, Vermiculite is just too darn expensive, and my money tree in the back yard died a long time ago (maybe I should have planted it in a square foot garden! But, alas, I didn't). Don't buy the Perlite because it just doesn't do as well at holding water in your soil.

Substitute oil dry, instead. It is very absorbent and best of all dirt cheap! You can pick up a 40lb bag of it from your local automotive store for about $7. A comparable bag of Vermiculite will run you at least 4-5 times that much.

This is a picture of our garden as of yesterday. Our box measures 4x4 and is 12in deep:

With our grid added, you can really see the prinicpal of square foot gardening at work. Each veggie is planted in its own square foot (16sq ft in our 4x4 box), and the number of plants per square depend on the spacing needed between each plant. Typically, you can have 1, 4, 9, or 16 plants per square foot- but more on that next week!

We have small seedlings in every square, and they are all growing well. Yay!! More pictures of each individual square to come! Also, Sunday is National Tortilla Chip Day. What??? You didn't know???

Well, now that you're informed you need to celebrate properly by making homemade tortilla chips and a yummy dish to go with them. Look for that post tomorrow! Ta ta for now!

A little about me....

Hey everyone! Welcome to my blog!

I started this blog to share about all the little things in my life that make it lovely. Look for upcoming blog posts about gardening, cooking, DIY and crafts, my puppy, and my family to name a few.

So, to start off, I'll tell you all a little bit about myself. I am a born and bred Texan and am married to my wonderful husband of just over 1 year. I have a precious 3 (almost 4) year old step daughter and a 1 year old Schnauzer named Fred.

Back in 2010, I graduated with my RN and am currently working on my master's degree to become a nurse practitioner. I'll be done with that degree in August! Yay! And, in case anyone was wondering, I am sick of school. But it will totally be worth it.

In my free time (haha) I'm working on building my Etsy shop's inventory (http://www.etsy.com/shop/littlelovelyme) with beautiful, handmade jewelry that will make YOUR world a little lovelier! Stop by and check it out sometimes. Be sure to check in often as I will be adding more handmade jewelry as well as items for you home!

Later this week, I'll be posting about my garden so check back for that! Hope you guys enjoy!