Netflix Lovin' & Sweet Treats

In case you haven't quite figured it out yet, we're huge fans of Netflix over here. Which is kind of ironic, actually, considering the fact that when Shawn and I first met he was working at the local video store and he absolutely abhorred the thought of Netflix, whereas I was preaching about Netflix to everyone who would listen (way before they even started their amazing Instant Queue feature... my parents were early-Netflix customers). It just goes to show you how opinions can change as you grow (...and how the need for things like video stores dies out after a while).

Netflix is by no means sponsoring us or this post (but they totally should!), so the real question is - why are we such big fans? When we moved out here a year ago and did our cable company research, we just couldn't bear the thought of spending $100+ a month just to watch tv whenever we wanted (especially considering Comcast is the primary option out here - we've vented about them before though, so I'll spare you those details). Cable-less but in need of some visual entertainment, we opted for a Netflix subscription instead. At under $11 a month for one unlimited movie 'rental' at a time and unlimited access to the thousands of movies and tv shows in their Instant Queue 24/7, we would have been crazy to pick anything else.

So what if we can't watch 'real' tv? The only good thing on tv these days is Wayne Brady on Lets Make a Deal anyway!


We'd make deals with Wayne all day if he wanted us to...
But that's enough 'real' tv jazz - back to the Netflix love. They must really love us because they have all of our new & old favorite tv series on the Instant Queue:

* That 70s Show
* Futurama
* The Twilight Zone
* Scrubs
* 3rd Rock From The Sun
* 30 Rock
* Dexter (unfortunately only seasons 1 & 2 so no spoilers, please!)

...and our newest favorite series of all: PSYCH.


Shawn Spencer, Burton Guster, and the occasional pineapple.
Yes, we're a few years late on yet another bandwagon, shush. The show is hilarious. And smartly done. The episodes are an hour long, too, so that's always a plus for us. The main reason we watch it though is because the main character - Shawn Spencer - has such striking similarity to Shawn... it's uncanny. The personality traits are almost spot on and they even got his physical appearance right:


Shawn = Shawn?
...Shawn even has a button down shirt in that same pattern and colors. Strange. We're still trying to figure out how they got a hold of all of Shawn's shirts, thoughts and quirks.

But enough about that; now that I've proclaimed our love for Netflix and our new favorite (old) show, lets get into food mode.


Remember this peanut butter 'dip'? Did you know that it's not really a dip, it's actually a filling for something sweetly addictive? Check this out:


Pretzel peanut butter chocolate dipped yumminess!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
a bag of hard pretzels
4oz dark chocolate

To Make:
- In the medium bowl with a spatula or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the peanut butter and butter until combined.
- Scrape down the bowl, add sugars and beat until combined. You should be able to roll the mixture into balls without it sticking to your hands. If the dough is too sticky, add more powdered sugar until you reach a consistency that is easy to roll.
- Roll the peanut butter mixture into small balls, about 1 teaspoon of mixture for each ball, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Sandwich the balls between two pretzels and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Melt the chocolate in a metal bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth, and remove from heat.
- Dip each pretzel bite halfway into the melted chocolate and place on the prepared baking sheet. Chill in refrigerator until chocolate is set.
- Enjoy at your leisure! These keep best in the refrigerator or freezer.

Careful, they may be addictive. I should add, it's a quick and easy recipe that makes a great snack while you're getting comfortable on the couch watching Psych... or whatever your pleasure is. If you dig peanut butter as much as we do over here, you'll thank me for this one.

Oh April, where did you go?

Hello there! How are you folks holding up these days? What's that? We've only posted once throughout the entire month of April??? And it's already four days away from being May?? By-golly, you're absolutely right! Hopefully a lengthy post full of mostly photos will make up for our disappearance. If not, then I don't know what else to offer you, because that's all I've got.


Mmm... peanut butter dip, of sorts. It's actually the filling to some (not so)fancy little snacks I'll be posting about later this week. It was pretty good as a dip too though.


Herbed potatoes and kielbasa tomato bake - made by me! It's my yummiest savory food attempt yet.


Homemade cheesesteaks with sausage, onions, and marinara sauce on focaccia rolls.
(Of course we made this for dinner on the same day I had a bacon cheeseburger from Five Guys for lunch while Shawn was at work... my stomach was ready to murder me that night. I guess that's what I get for getting a burger without Shawn.)


I've been on a cookie bar kick lately - these were with chocolate chips and easter M&Ms. Cookie bars are so much chewier than round cookies! The double chocolate & cherry ones I make for work have the amazing texture of raw cookie dough.


I made a lemon meringue cake for my brother's 18th birthday last weekend.


... I guess 18 is as good an age as any to get your first lemon meringue facial. The rest of the cake wasn't any less tasty. I'd even say it was better than pie!


And just in case you've forgotten what we look like...


A great candid shot of Shawn. It reminds me of film stills. I should throw some sub-titles in there 'A-Ok' or something corny like that.


Shawn actually managed to get a picture of me smiling! It's a rare occurrence, considering I seem to make funny faces every single time there's a camera in front of me. I have photographic evidence of these claims, but I don't feel like looking for them at the moment. We're actually about to head over to Five Guys for dinner.... don't judge me. Sometimes a girl just needs a burger... twice in two weeks.

Caught in the Act

I saw this little guy scouring the tree outside our kitchen window for freshly growing buds... this is the only decent shot I could get of him though; he was moving so swiftly! He's not one of our usual squirrel visitors though - he didn't venture close to the window, and he wasn't as squat and fluffy as our regulars.

Check out the squirrel acrobatics:



(larger images on our flickr)

How about a quick game of catch-up?

I know things have been a little quiet on the blog the past few weeks (save for Shawn's newly inspired bunny comics!) but we've both been keeping busy (...no, not just watching squirrels!). Lets break things down into a list, shall we? I love lists! Especially when they have yummy pictures thrown in too!

- Shawn started working again! He's working the deli counter at the popular local deli/restaurant about a half mile down the road. It's conveniently close to home and not to mention, the extra paycheck certainly helps.


Idle Hand Bars - original recipe from here, but I'll post my revisions soon.

- Despite Shawn going back to work, I didn't have much time to myself the last two weeks because I worked some extra shifts to make up for the couple of days I stayed home recovering from a cold. All work and no play makes Marine exhausted - hence, less time in the kitchen and on the internet, more time on the couch.


Homemade chicken caesar salad - yummy!

- I also never quite recovered from that cold... the new weather patterns brought that runny nose and dry throat right back around! Allergies were never a problem for me until about three years ago; now I'm affected each time the temperatures rise and drop dramatically. February - May are the worst on my sinuses.... not to mention September - October when the temperatures get fussy again. My nose can't take much more abuse!


Homemade pulled pork sandwiches on homemade whole wheat rolls. More about this soon!

- I've actually been working towards some of my goals for the year! I'm in the middle of reading Life of Pi (it was a slow start but now that I'm more than just a few pages in it's getting easier to sit down with at the end/beginning of the day - the two times my mind is at it's quietest). I've also stumbled upon a few patterns I'd like to try for my sewing goals... one purse pattern and a simple a-line skirt pattern; I just need to go buy some decent fabrics now to start the actual sewing process.


Whole wheat cheese straws, using Deb's recipe but substituting the flour.

- Here's a bit of a random question: do my fellow female-readers have any recommendations for skin-care products? I've been using products from Origins over the last few years but my skin tends to adapt and I need to switch it up again. Basically anything that will even out skin tone and also keep acne at bay (seriously, I'm almost 24 years old... why am I still plagued by acne?!). Any recommendations are appreciated!


- One final thing: Shawn and I recently discovered pauladeenridingthings.com, so I had a little fun with it the other day....




(See them in their full size glory over at our flickr)

Thanks for playing catch-up with me! Here's hoping April will be a little more eventful on the blog posting end of things. Get ready for some spring ingredients and more squirrel photos!

Oh Great Coffee Stain ...

www.idrawbunnies.com

I'm fairly certain the chocolate is from some cookies.