Breaking Headlines

I apologize for not blogging in almost 2 months, but I have extremely busy! Between studying for finals, moving, preparing for Christmas, and now studying for comps, it seems as though when I do catch a break I spend my "free time" on Pinterest and never manage to get to my own blog. However, a lot has happened in the past 2 months so let me fill ya'll in!

+My best friend from high school, Karisa, asked me to be a bridesmaid in her July 7, 2012 wedding, sooo excited!

Karisa & I, College of Dentistry Formal, Spring 2010

+I signed a contract to be a Speech-Language Pathologist with ESU#2 in Fremont for the 2012-2013 school year, it feels good to know I'm employed!

+I signed up to take the National (Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology) Exam on January 14, 2012. I will also be taking our Comprehensive Exams at UNK on January 12 & 13, so I will be studying my brains out until then. (Sorry in advance for the lack of blogging-- nothing new though, right?!)

+I also signed up for the Lincoln Half Marathon on Sunday, May 6, 2012 so it is time to get my rear end in shape!

+I finished my last semester of classes ever (unless I go back for that Ph.D.) with a 4.0, hooray!

+I moved in with my parents after finals week; I now have 4 new roommates: my dad, mom, sister and nephew, and I am finally in the same town as Tyler : )

Back to the books...stay tuned for my "Year in Review" post!

Sliced Baked Potatoes

Tyler and I attempted to make these potatoes a while back, once again, I got the idea from Pinterest, but they definitely did not turn out as well as I had hoped.

The original recipe we went off of said to bake them at 200 degrees, I should've known that wasn't high enough, but they definitely were not cooked all the way through at the bottom. If we try these again I will definitely set the oven at 475 like this recipe calls for:

Sliced baked potatoes: thinly slice almost all the way through. drizzle with butter, olive oil, salt and pepper. bake at 425 for about 40 min.

Healthy Oatmeal Smoothie

I also found this recipe on Pinterest, and apparently I did not pin it but I saved the recipe, so my apologies to whoever I am stealing this fabulous recipe from, but it is pretty tasty!

• 1 cup ice
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup plain lowfat yogurt
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup coconut water (or other liquid, such as juice) I used orange juice
• I added 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed

 Throw in  a blender and enjoy!

No Bake Granola Bars

I found this recipe on Pinterest via Food Doodles and decided to give it a whirl.

Makes 12

• 2 large overripe bananas
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup crunchy cereal
• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup(or any other sweetener you use)
• 2 tbsp peanut butter or other nut or seed butter
• 2 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp dried cranberries or other fruit
• 2 – 4 tsp cocoa powder

Line a muffin pan with paper liners, or use a silicone muffin pan for easy removal.  Mash the bananas.  Add wet ingredients and cocoa powder and mix well.  Add all other ingredients, mix well then press into prepared muffin tin.  Freeze at least 60 minutes before serving.

I added Special K Protein Plus as my crunchy cereal, and for whatever reason we were out of chocolate chips so I added the Heath chips we had. I also added 1 tbsp of ground flax seed and enjoy the granola bars best when they're frozen!

Nutella Cheesecake Pumpkin Muffins

I found this recipe while browsing blogs and thought they sounded absolutely delicious; they turned out delicious and even my little sister, who doesn't like admitting I'm a decent cook, enjoyed them!

• 4 whole Large Eggs
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 1 can (15 Oz. Size) Pumpkin Puree
• 1-½ cup Vegetable Oil
• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• FOR THE NUTELLA CHEECAKE FILLING:
• 8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
• ½ cups Nutella
• 1 whole Large Egg

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, beat eggs slightly. Add in sugar, pumpkin and oil and beat thoroughly. Add in remaining dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
In a small bowl, beat together cream cheese, Nutella and egg until smooth.
Place paper liners in a muffin tin. Place about 2 tablespoons of pumpkin batter into each liner, then 1 tablespoon of Nutella batter, then top with 2 more tablespoons of pumpkin batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes.
These are best served completely cooled. Makes 20 muffins.

ASHA 2011 San Diego

I went to the ASHA (American Speech & Hearing Association) 2011 Convention in San Diego with three of my classmates, Mikki, Shana, and Sara, back in November. We had a blast!

We had a fun night of dinner and drinks at Dick's Last Resort ; )

We represented UNK as NSSLHA day volunteers!

The convention center, just walking distance from our hotel in the Gaslamp District.

We enjoyed dinner with our professors at the Rockin Baja Coastal Cantina!

We took a trolley tour around San Diego and went to Coronado Island to see the Hotel Del Coronado.

We even put our feet in the ocean despite the COLD water!

We loved the oodles of Birds of Paradise : ) I'd love to go back to SD again, there was so much to see and we definitely did not have enough time!