Dryer Sheets and Java

Hello Dear Readers! I know y'all are thrilled to be getting another dose of Miss Mollie so soon. Normally I like to be fashionably late with my blog posts, but I've had a request to tell you about my favorite trick:

Dryer Sheets. These little suckers have endless possibilities but we'll keep it short and sweet today. Here are my top two favorite uses for dryer sheets.

1. Got a gross pan? Stick a dryer sheet in that bad boy with a little water and soak away while you do the other dishes, by the time you are done all that grossness will wipe right off. (Gotta thank my godmother for this trick). 
2. Baseboards! Baseboards suck, they are always dusty. Dust that dirty birdie with a dryer sheet! It will stay dust-free much longer. 

Now, it's almost nine and I'm procrastinating getting ready for my meeting so let's talk about my other new favorite thing, my chemex. I LOVE my chemex, it makes the best coffee. 

With that, Dear Readers, I bid you adieu and wish you a happy weekend. I shall leave you with a diagram.

In red are people who are breaking my heart. In blue are people who are shaking my confidence daily. Where they meet = Cecilia. Thanks Marshall.

Refrigerator Oatmeal and Sock Buns

Welcome, Dear Readers, to another installment of Miss Mollie's Guide to life.

It was quite the weekend.

Thank you, Countess.

My sister set off for Israel this morning so I went down to Ojai to surprise her for her birthday, help my mom Casey pack, and help keep the sanity. For her birthday we ate at my new favorite restaurant (which is sadly a whole plane ride away for me), Lure, in Ventura. Oysters, sand dabs, and cioppino, oh my!

Happy Birthday, Casey!

Then when I got home, Mr. McHusband picked me up from the airport and we went and bought a car! It took all friggen day but I can't wait to go pick up our new CR-V! 

But, I know the news you have all been waiting for is....

How to make refrigerator oatmeal and why I put a sock bun in the title of this post.

I love oatmeal but I hate making oatmeal on weekdays. It takes forever, it's not portable, and...well, that's it. It's a pain and instant oatmeal is gross so don't even give me that crap. Refrigerator oatmeal is basically just muesli but made in individual mason jars. I found the original recipe on pinterest (where else) but I've doctored it a bit so I'll just share mine. 

Start with a quarter cup of rolled oats per mini mason jar. If you are gluten free, they have great gluten free oatmeal available at my favorite store, Trader Joes.

   Add 1/3 of a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or coconut milk, or non-fat milk) to each jar.

I forgot to take a pic, but also add 1/3 of a cup of non-fat greek yogurt to each jar. 

Add 1 1/2 TBS of ch-ch-ch-chia seeds to each jar.

Stir that sucker around (or just put the lid on and shake it)

Add a handful of blueberries (or whatever fruit you have on-hand, last week I used mango too) to each jar.

Stir it!

Put those lids on and stick those puppies in the fridge. Portable, healthy, breakfast for the week!

Mollie's Muesli (Refrigerator Oatmeal):

What you need per jar

• 1/4 cup rolled oats (gluten free if you wish)
• 1 1/2 TBS ch-ch-ch-chia seeds
• 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or coconut, or soy, or non-fat milk)
• 1/3 cup non-fat greek yogurt
• Handful of blueberries or favorite fruit
• Optional: sweetener of choice, vanilla extract (if using non-fat milk)

Directions

• Add all ingredients except fruit and stir or shake
• Add fruit and stir again
• Put in fridge overnight. I usually make 4-5 jars and they last all week.

And now...

SOCK BUNS!

Why, Dear Readers, do you care about my sock bun? 

Sock buns are my favorite thing. No joke. I wear them when I don't want to wash do my hair and still look fab. If you don't know how to do a sock bun here's a great tutorial. http://youtu.be/koRcJhZEWao

Ojai is pretty far from the airport and I hadn't washed my hair in four days so to speed the morning up I went sock bun. LESSON LEARNED ABOUT WEARING SOCK BUNS TO THE AIRPORT. The lovely members of the TSA did not understand what the heck was in my hair and I had to have a "hair pat-down". It was a little awkward. Luckily I was wearing industrial strength hairspray so no hair-dos were harmed in the process.

Halibut Puttanesca

This week has been a little busy...but let's get real, every week is busy. Being busy doesn't mean you can't eat delicious and healthy food that you cook at home, it just means you have to plan a little better. I'm trying to take my own advice here because sometimes I get home at 8pm and just want to eat a box of crackers and call it a night...which is why I don't keep them in the house.

Confession: I did NOT plan well this week but I made it work! I also can't remember what we ate for dinner on Monday.

On Tuesday I made one of my favorite dinners that is SO easy. Trader Joe's Indian Masala Burgers (Vegetarian) with salad.

• Grab some lettuce
• Sprinkle some white balsamic vinegar on it (or whatever your favorite is)
• Heat up your burger
• While your burger is heating, mix some non-fat greek yogurt with a little TJ's curry sauce.
• Put burger on a plate w/ salad
• Top w/ curry yogurt and mango chutney.

YUM!

Yesterday was bliss because my afternoon lessons were cancelled, which meant I had time to both go to the grocery store* and cook dinner. They had fresh wild halibut on sale so how could I resist making one of my favorite dinners? Halibut Puttanesca. Seriously, dear readers, this is SO good.

What you need:

• Halibut (I do about 1/3lb per person, sometimes less)
• Green beans (about a handful per person)
• Anchovies
• Kalamata olives (pitted, in water)
• Roasted red peppers (in water), cut into small strips
• Cilantro
• Garlic (I buy the fresh pre-minced kind, easy peezy)
• Baby tomatoes, cut in half.
• Aluminum foil (for making a bag for the fish)
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Lemon Pepper
• Lemon

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 450. While the oven is pre-heating, tear of 2 pieces of foil, about twice as big as your pieces of fish (this is for two people, for four tear off four, etc.). Place a handful of green beans on each piece of foil and drizzle with a little olive oil. Place a piece of fish on each pile of green beans.

On top of the fish put: 2 anchovy pieces (lay flat, and don't worry, it's just for flavor, they will literally MELT away), a few kalamata olives, some red peppers, about 1 clove of minced garlic, a handful of baby tomatoes, and a few sprigs of cilantro. Squeeze some lemon on that sucker, drizzle a teeny bit of olive oil, grind some lemon pepper, and sprinkle a tiny bit of salt. 

Seal your foil bags (either with another piece of foil, or if yours is big enough just use the one), and put in the oven for about 20 minutes. Depending on how hot your oven is you may want to check it after 10. Our oven is stupid so things always take longer

Halibut Puttanesca.** A truly terrible food picture, but you get the idea.

*Confession: I just went to the organic market because I knew I could get fish there. Usually I need to go there, Trader Joe's, AND Safeway. Ugh.
**This recipe came from my mom! I can't take credit for it.

Miss Mollie's Fabulous Friday

A great night in:

• I shopped online:
• http://www.shopconversationpieces.com/perfect-shirt-charcoal/
• Cute no? Thanks Pinterest. 
• I ate a healthy dinner of grapes and yogurt.*
• I watched whatever I wanted on TV which may or may not have included Sex and The City (the first season with Aiden, duh), and Law and Order: SVU.
• And, of course, spent some quality time with Bear:

Hi Bear!

*Clearly by a healthy dinner of grapes and yogurt I mean a fabulously unhealthy dinner of wine and fro yo.