Spring!

Spring is in the air!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but it seems spring has been on a roller coaster this year. We’ve had a 90 degree day, and then just last week I had to move my begonia indoors so it wouldn’t freeze! I guess that is Nebraska for ya. However, it seems this week things even out and we stay in the 70s and 80s. Perfect weather in my book. Don’t get me wrong, I love 90-degree days too, especially when I am up at the lake, but this will do just fine!

Spring has been good so far. I’ve gotten my garden in — this year four tomatoes, a pepper and two cucumbers. Still trying to find an eggplant. We also hosted 13 people at our house on Easter. We’ve also gotten in lots of grilling and patio time. This past weekend we made homemade margaritas, beef short ribs and coleslaw. All of which were really yummy. Tim has become quite good at perfecting the margarita as well. He uses Luxardo Triple Sec, Don Julio silver tequila, fresh squeezed lime juice and simple syrup. They are the best!

As for my short ribs, I rubbed them in Hawaiian Smoke Sea Salt, and then we grilled them for about an hour on the charcoal grill, using indirect heat. Then, we covered them in Cookies Western Style BBQ sauce and put them in the oven for another couple of hours. These were the juiciest, meatiest beef short ribs I’ve ever seen! Check them out:

I don’t know about you, but cooking a great meal and enjoying it at home can be the best sometimes. And it doesn’t hurt that the weather was super nice and we enjoyed sitting on the patio while grilling. Spring really is a great time of year. I can’t believe this weekend is Memorial Day and the unofficial start to summer. Where does the time go? Happy spring and welcome summer!

What’s for dinner?

I’ve said this before, but sometimes I can be a bad blogger. I should write a post on the same day of the week, every week.
When I don’t feel like blogging, I should blog anyways.
But enought of that. Have you been wanting some new ideas for dinner?
Well, here is what I’ve been cooking in the Karstens house.

Sunday night I made a new favorite of Tim and I’s — the coffee-rubbed chuck roast.
I’ve shared this recipe before, and you can find it on a previous blog post at the link above.
A chuck roast works best. When you grill it, it stays nice and juicey as this cut is a tad more fattier than a rump roast. Totally easy and totally yummy. We paired this with salads and crusty bread.

Monday night it was was turkey tenderloins on the grill with sweet corn (frozen from Mom and Dad’s farm, of course, although my supply is getting low. Can’t wait for sweet corn season! Which, I am thinking will be ready before July 4 this year. We’ll have to see!) We also had tossed salads with this. The turkey tenderloins are just from Hy-Vee. I got a good deal on 8 of them for like only $6 one day. So, have like 4 more of them left. They are a great summertime grilling staple in our house.

Tuesday night it was something fast and easy. I tried out the frozen chicken low mein and vegetables from Trader Joes. All you do is dump the bag in the skillet, and viola, dinner. I had good intentions of making chicken tacos in the crockpot, which is what I did Wednesday night. But forgot to get it ready the night before. So, glad I had this bag of low mein on hand. This is the first time I tried this product from TJs and it was pretty good. Paired it with a tossed salad and strawberries and whip cream for dessert. Which makes me have to say, I sure am glad it is strawberry season! I love strawberries and always stock up on them this time of year. Strawberries and cream are one of our favorite springtime desserts.

And now for Wednesday. There is nothing more easy than throwing some meat in the crockpot and having it be ready when you get off of work. I love this. And things always taste good in the crockpot. This time it was 2 large chicken breasts, some lime juice and a half package of taco seasoning. I also added about a cup of water. I let this cook all day and came home and shredded it. It was really good. I served it on two corn tortillas along with sour cream, tomatoes, cheese and black beans. Yum. This chicken also is good if you throw in salsa, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes or green chilies into the crockpot too. But just used what I had on hand. And this meal is even better as there is are leftovers for at least 4 more lunches.

Tonight Tim is on his own, grilling a burger as I have JLL Book Club tonight! Yay! I joined a book club. This has been something I always thought would be fun and finally found some women interested in starting one. I have my list of book ideas all ready for tonight. Excited to make up our list of books tonight and get the club organized. And, it should be a fun time too as we are meeting at a local winery — Deer Springs. Tim and I visited this local winery this fall on our annual fall foliage tour we do to Nebraska City.

And finally, Friday night, Tim and I will most likely grill up something. Right now I am thinking chicken breasts marinated in a sesame ginger marinade from Lawrys paired with cliantro lime rice and salads. Love that combo. I call it our Hawaiian night. ha! I also have some Ribeyes I am excited to try, but think I’ll wait on those for next weekend when we run the big Lincoln Half Marathon! woo hoo! We got some beef again from some friends of ours. Sure do LOVE that stuff!

As for Saturday, going to leave that up in the air, but am thinking eating out might have to be in store.

And that is a week of meals.

I have been in such a great mood lately because of the excellent weather we’ve been having lately! Tuesday and Wednesday highs were in the 90s! As you all know, I so love summer and so love that we are having summer temps in April! yay!

I also am happy that teaching is done for the semester, papers are graded and grades are figured. Always a welcome relief.

Happy day!

Can’t say I even missed winter

So, I read Rainbow Rowell’s column today: Rainbow: When winter’s a no-show, it leaves some of us cold

And boy, I couldn’t disagree more!

I loved this winter. I loved that I only had to wear my really thick sweaters for only a few weeks this winter. And I also loved the fact that when I did wear my big warm sweaters I usually got hot wearing them. For those of you not accustomed to cold winters, you know it is cold outside when you do not get warm even when you are wearing your warmest sweaters. And you don’t even get hot wearing them indoors because when you do enter the indoors from the frigid outdoors, you spend the next 8 hours trying to warm back up.

I also love the fact that I did not have to break out my long underwear this year! Yes, some days are so cold, I’ll wear my long johns to work.

I love that I rarely wore my really cute stocking cap Tim got me for Christmas.

And I didn’t even miss those cashmere-lined Coach gloves I lost in Chicago last March. Because this cheap pair of gloves I had did just fine this year.

I also love that I haven’t wore socks since about March 1 because we’ve had really nice weather since about then. I love my Smart Wool socks in the winter, but am so glad that I didn’t have to wear them all that much this year.

I loved that the sweater I bought for Thanksgiving this year got taken off (I had another shirt on too) about an hour after I had it on as it was about 80 degrees at Thanksgiving this year too.

My new, long black wool coat also didn’t get much of a workout this year. And my new scarf.

Boy, next year it will seem like I still have all new winter gear and clothes as much of it didn’t get much of a workout this winter.

And all of that is just fine by me.

I’ve said this before in this blog that Tim and I so plan to winter somewhere warm someday. Arizona, the Carribean, if we win the lottery, Hawaii! ha ha! Can’t say I would mind a year that starts out spring, goes into summer, fall, and then right after Christmas I’d like to head right back into spring.

And that would be fine with me!

Spring is a week from today!

I just realized spring is next week! What the heck! March is zooming on by, as are most months these days!

I’ve gone on and on in this blog about how much I love summer, but spring is my second favorite season. (Followed by fall, and then winter.)

Here is what I love about spring.

1. Getting the yard looking nice. It always looks nice in the spring before fungus and drought seem to kill it in the summer.
2. Spring flowers. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, magnolias, lilacs, cherry and apple blossoms are some of my most favorite flowers. And they don’t ever last near long enough.
3. The smell of a spring rain.
4. Breaking out the sandals.
5. My new spring jacket.
6. Pastel colors.
7. St. Patrick’s Day (technically not during spring, but still makes me think about spring).
8. Easter
9. Sitting outside/grilling/doing most anything outside without having a lot of bugs.
10. Planting my garden.
11. Spring vegetables like cabbage and asparagus.
12. Spring break.
13. Easter candy — is there any better time of year for candy? I think not!
14. Baseball
15. Bike riding
16. Running outside
18. Easter ham
19. Schools Out for Summer!
20. Budding Trees

Spring is in the air!

I love spring!
I don’t think I’ve mentioned how happy I am with the forecast here for this week!
Today it got to 80 degrees! And then it is still supposed to be in the 70s for the entire week! Yippie!
Have I also mentioned I haven’t wore socks yet this week! And I don’t plan to this week either! ha!
I LOVE warmer weather. I even love 90s degree days. Ahhh. I so feel we are on the downhill slide of winter. I know we can still get snow here in April, but at least the chance of it dipping below 0 is most likely long gone! Those days below 0 are what I really dislike the most about winter in Nebraska. I think we may of got below 0 once this winter and it didn’t really count because daytime temps were not that bad. And that is just fine by me.
So, happy spring and happy week!
Speaking of spring, I did a little shopping on Sunday. (And that is about the highlight of my weekend — ha ha. We just totally laid low. Oh, did get in 6 miles on Saturday. Yep, still training for the half marathon May 6. I think I may do a lot more walking this year than last. We’ll have to see, tho!) Anyways…back to shopping! I got a new swimsuit and new spring coat. “Only in Nebraska,” the saleswoman at Dillards said! ha!

I also got a new spring wreath for the front door …

and tulips for the kitchen table.

Life is good when spring is in the air!