Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Every day I go for a walk during my lunch. I am a creature of habit and I walk the same route every.single.day. As I was walking the other day I just looked out at the water & bridge thinking WOW I live in one of the most beautiful places in the World! Every day I get to see all the beauty as I walk. We have had an incredible Winter with lots of sunshine, blue skies and warm weather!
I feel so blessed to call this home....
Monday, March 12, 2012
Menu Monday
How can it be Monday already??? The menu planning for 2 weeks is still going along spendid. I am spending about $50 per week on groceries. I've cut our grocery bill in half by planning ahead for 2 weeks.
What do you have on your menu for the week? In no particular order:
1. Thai Chicken Pizza
2. Crockpot Pulled Pork
3. Pulled Pork Tacos - I am using leftover pork from the pulled pork sandwiches for the tacos
4. Gnoccis with Browned Butter
5. Chicken Taco Salads
This weekend I cooked the pulled pork and a whole chicken to use for the week. The pulled pork was AMAZING! SUPER easy too!
What do you have on your menu for the week? In no particular order:
1. Thai Chicken Pizza
2. Crockpot Pulled Pork
3. Pulled Pork Tacos - I am using leftover pork from the pulled pork sandwiches for the tacos
4. Gnoccis with Browned Butter
5. Chicken Taco Salads
This weekend I cooked the pulled pork and a whole chicken to use for the week. The pulled pork was AMAZING! SUPER easy too!
Friday, March 9, 2012
Swiss Chard Egg Frittata
Meatless Monday last week I made frozen waffles (blech) and swiss chard egg frittata. I am not a big fan of frozen waffles, but they are MUCH faster than making homemade one especially on a Monday night!
We had received organic swiss chard in our veggie box. I <3 swiss chard! I found the recipe on Skinny Taste website. I also <3 this website!
This recipe is super delish and super easy!
Ingredients
4 eggs
4 egg whites
1/4 cup grated swiss cheese
6 cups of chopped swiss chard
1 large chopped onion
2 tsp light butter
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix the eggs, egg whites and swiss cheese together. Set egg mixture aside. Add 1 tsp of butter to cast iron pan and melt. Add the chopped onion. Cook for on medium low for 8-10 minutes until onions are translucent. Once onions are translucent bring heat to medium and caramelize onions. Set onions aside.
Increase heat to medium high, add remaining butter, add swiss chard and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Pour eggs and onions over swiss chard. Cook on low for 6-8 minutes or until the middle and sides of the eggs start to stick to the pan.
Bake egg mixture in the oven for 4-6 minutes. Remove from the oven and place a dish over the pan, flip onto the plate, cut into wedges and serve.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Bart Happening - Week 7
I have been all excited to take a picture with my new iPhone on Bart. What a freakin rookie I am! I forgot there was a FLASH!!! HELLOOOOOO When you are trying to sneak a picture of people you do NOT need a flash to be going off. Ugh I was so embarrassed! I tried to play it off like my phone was crazy. The train was packed when my flash went off too. No one said anything, but they knew what I was doing...trying to get a picture of the guy across the aisle sleeping.
Needless to say that picture didn't turn out and I didn't try to get any pictures for a few days. I braved it again when I checked ALL my settings on my phone.
Below is a regular rider. I haven't figured out this guy yet. It might help if people on Bart actually talked to each other, but that seems to be an unspoken rule. No talking to other riders on Bart.
Mr. Sleepy drives a red car and parks beside me every day. If he isn't on my train in the morning he will be parked beside me at the end of the day. Strange! He has rode in my train car for a long time. I would say he just started parking by me constantely for the past few months. He does make me laugh when he falls asleep and starts snoring LOUD on the train. He kind of reminds me of Sleepy from the 7 Dwarfts.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Kitchen
Kitchen project #1 with #43948 more to go. lol
When we moved into the house there was a big open area of the kitchen. It looked like it was missing a cabinet. In one of the houses down the street the former owners put in a cabinet. We have talked about adding a cabinet to the area, since we bought the house. We had priced out cabinets at Lowe's and it was added to our To Do List.
One weekend I was out of town and Art went to Lowe's. He found 2 cabinets for $25 each. They were on clearance because they had damage to the back of the cabinet. Art bought both of them. I was super excited with the great deal he got! One would think that we installed these cabinets as soon as possible in our kitchen....oooohhhh noooo. They have sat in the garage for a year or more.
This past Fall we went to Lowe's again...this seems to be our favorite place to go on the weekend. They had a counter top on clearance for $10. Art said let's buy it for the cabinet we want to install. I didn't want to buy it because it didn't match the other counter tops. Plus we had driven my car and it wasn't going to fit in the car. Art made a very good point it was only $10 bucks. We want to replace all the counter tops eventually. We could put the cabinet in for now until we can afford to replace all the counters.
2012 comes along and Art informed me those cabinets are getting put in. Uh Huh! Well he got to work. Why is it a project takes a lot longer than you anticipate? We planned to knock it out in a weekend. Nope it took us about 2-3 weekends.
DISCLAIMER: Art did 90% of the work on this project! I always say WE when HE did the work. :)
When we moved into the house there was a big open area of the kitchen. It looked like it was missing a cabinet. In one of the houses down the street the former owners put in a cabinet. We have talked about adding a cabinet to the area, since we bought the house. We had priced out cabinets at Lowe's and it was added to our To Do List.
One weekend I was out of town and Art went to Lowe's. He found 2 cabinets for $25 each. They were on clearance because they had damage to the back of the cabinet. Art bought both of them. I was super excited with the great deal he got! One would think that we installed these cabinets as soon as possible in our kitchen....oooohhhh noooo. They have sat in the garage for a year or more.
This past Fall we went to Lowe's again...this seems to be our favorite place to go on the weekend. They had a counter top on clearance for $10. Art said let's buy it for the cabinet we want to install. I didn't want to buy it because it didn't match the other counter tops. Plus we had driven my car and it wasn't going to fit in the car. Art made a very good point it was only $10 bucks. We want to replace all the counter tops eventually. We could put the cabinet in for now until we can afford to replace all the counters.
2012 comes along and Art informed me those cabinets are getting put in. Uh Huh! Well he got to work. Why is it a project takes a lot longer than you anticipate? We planned to knock it out in a weekend. Nope it took us about 2-3 weekends.
DISCLAIMER: Art did 90% of the work on this project! I always say WE when HE did the work. :)
Art & Sammy trying to find the studs in the wall.
Art screwing the cabinet into the wall. Art asked me if I wanted to put bead board on the side of the cabinet. I jumped for joy! YES!!! I have been wanting to put bead board on the side of all my cabinets. Again we just haven't done it. One reason some of this stuff doesn't get done is because it costs $$$$. $$$$ unfortunately doesn't grow on trees for us!
Me painting the bead board!
Finally after things going wrong we were able to get the lower cabinet installed. We need a 3rd person to help with the upper cabinet. It is a corner cabinet that will fit very nicely above. :::cough cough who wants to come help?:::::
When I took this picture Art said send it to your mom because I can help decorate cakes now. bahahaha
WA-LA!
Finished project
How sweet is that bead board? Oh I just LOVE it!!!!
Our new home for our lunch boxes! I love our new cabinet! We had a cart/butcher block type thing in the corner before with baskets underneath. I hated how you could see everything. Now the baskets are under the cabinet. The cabinet helps the kitchen look less cluttered.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Don't Forget to see all the food from.....
Krystal's virtual baby shower over at What's Cookin, Chicago and Krystal also blogged about it at Mrs. Regueiro's Plate. I really want a bite of every.single.thing!!!! I just ate breakfast and I am hungry! =)
I have been getting the question of what is a virtual baby shower. Krystal explained it best....A virtual baby shower is a like an online potluck party composed of dishes that we would have all enjoyed if we really had the party together in real life.
I have been getting the question of what is a virtual baby shower. Krystal explained it best....A virtual baby shower is a like an online potluck party composed of dishes that we would have all enjoyed if we really had the party together in real life.
Menu Monday
I am 3 weeks into shopping every other week and it is going great! This past weekend I just had to buy some fresh produce. Otherwise it has been fabulous! To run into the store to buy produce is super fast. In and out in 10 minutes. Marvelous just marvelous!
I have been trying to cut the quantity of meat out of our meals. I am really trying to get back to how I grew up eating organic and unprocessed foods. I've had a lot of conversations lately with my mom about how good we ate until my late teen years. When we lived on the farm 90% of our food was unprocessed and organic. We rarely ever drank milk or meat from the store. My dad milked cows and we had fresh milk constantly. We butchered our own meat. We grew a garden and canned.
I rarely drink milk as an adult. It just doesn't taste right to me. As a kid I would grab a fresh glass of milk over sugary drinks. Nothing better than fresh chilled milk! This post is making me want to find a dairy farmer to get a jug of fresh milk. I have a few friends who are pregnant and talking about going through 1-2 gallons of milk a week. Hmmm wonder if I will be the same.
I have been trying to cut the quantity of meat out of our meals. I am really trying to get back to how I grew up eating organic and unprocessed foods. I've had a lot of conversations lately with my mom about how good we ate until my late teen years. When we lived on the farm 90% of our food was unprocessed and organic. We rarely ever drank milk or meat from the store. My dad milked cows and we had fresh milk constantly. We butchered our own meat. We grew a garden and canned.
I rarely drink milk as an adult. It just doesn't taste right to me. As a kid I would grab a fresh glass of milk over sugary drinks. Nothing better than fresh chilled milk! This post is making me want to find a dairy farmer to get a jug of fresh milk. I have a few friends who are pregnant and talking about going through 1-2 gallons of milk a week. Hmmm wonder if I will be the same.
Monday - Potato Soup
Wednesday - Fiesta Lime Rice
Thursday - leftovers or food trucks
Friday - Friendship Soup
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Krystal's Virtual Baby Shower - Cuban Mojito Cake
My bestie Krystal is having a baby in May. I was asked to be part of her virtual baby shower and to make either a Filipino or Cuban dish. I felt very honored to be part of this exciting virtual baby shower. I poured over blogs and recipes trying to come up with something to make. I stumbled onto the Cuban Mojito Cake recipe and I knew it was perfect.
Krystal has decided to be team "green" and not find out the gender of little Cookie. What pregnant chicka doesn't love a sugary treat. I decided to go with green frosting to honor the unknown gender of Cookie! By the way it has been KILLING me not knowing what Cookie is and I can't wait to get a message revealing cookie!
Krystal has decided to be team "green" and not find out the gender of little Cookie. What pregnant chicka doesn't love a sugary treat. I decided to go with green frosting to honor the unknown gender of Cookie! By the way it has been KILLING me not knowing what Cookie is and I can't wait to get a message revealing cookie!
Cuban Mojito Cake
20 ounce can crushed pineapple, undrained
Juice of 1 lime
1 (1 lb.) box angel food cake mix
8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup limeade from concentrate
2-4 tablespoons powdered sugar — I used 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon rum extract
8 ounce tub Cool Whip Lite
1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut
Zest of lime
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl mix the pineapple, lime juice and cake mix together. Pour the mixture into the 9x13 pan and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. Let cake completely cook in the pan.
In a mixing bowl beat together cream cheese and limeade concentrate. Add 2-4 tablespoons of powdered sugar depending on your desire for sweetness. Add rum extract and fold in cool whip. Spread frosting over the cake. Sprinkle with coconut and lime zest. I added 8 drops of green food coloring to turn the frosting green.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Saturday Pinterest - DIY
How cute are these painted vases?
What a fabulous idea for a lot of different keys. Sparkles make everything better too!
Art and I are making a Honey Do Jar. Art came up with this idea and then I saw it on Pinterest. The Honey Do Jar is going to have a piece of paper with each project we want to do around the house. We will pull items out of the jar and that will be the next project we start. We thought this would be a great way to jump start us on finishing projects around the house.
Friday, March 2, 2012
100 Days....
I am a creature of habit. One of my daily habits is I listen to the same radio show every morning. One of the djs made a bet with her friends to do 100 crunches every day for 100 days. I thought it sounded like a good idea, but I have been putting it off. Then I asked my friend Pam to do them with me....then I recruited my sister Lacey to also join in the fun. Lacey didn't think it was such a great idea to start on her birthday. I encouraged her to start on her birthday. What a better way to start a year older than 100 crunches a day for 100 days.
100 days will end on June 5. We better have some flat tummies on June 5!
Why don't you join in on the fun? It takes less than 2 minutes to do 100 crunches.
100 days will end on June 5. We better have some flat tummies on June 5!
Why don't you join in on the fun? It takes less than 2 minutes to do 100 crunches.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Bart Happening - Week 6
Well I got my iphone and still no pictures. I am soooo engrossed in listening to Jillian Michael Podcasts that I don't know what is going on around me. I will tell you a little about regular riders.
A mother & daughter ride the Bart every day. They come on and try to get seats together. Then the mom pulls out the hand sanitizer for herself and then her daughter. Next she pulls out the Johnson & Johnson baby lotion to put on their hands. You know the baby lotion in the pink bottle? They don't talk at all. They just sit there the entire time doing nothing.
A father & daughter also ride the Bart every day. I am happy to see when these 2 go into another train car. The dad is ANNOYING! He gets into conversation with other riders about what a great school his daughter goes too, the great grades she gets and why they are the best. When he can't find a seat for her he has her sit on the grubby floor. Ugh! He likes to talk SUPER loud! He always finds someone to talk too.
Until next week.....
A mother & daughter ride the Bart every day. They come on and try to get seats together. Then the mom pulls out the hand sanitizer for herself and then her daughter. Next she pulls out the Johnson & Johnson baby lotion to put on their hands. You know the baby lotion in the pink bottle? They don't talk at all. They just sit there the entire time doing nothing.
A father & daughter also ride the Bart every day. I am happy to see when these 2 go into another train car. The dad is ANNOYING! He gets into conversation with other riders about what a great school his daughter goes too, the great grades she gets and why they are the best. When he can't find a seat for her he has her sit on the grubby floor. Ugh! He likes to talk SUPER loud! He always finds someone to talk too.
Until next week.....
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Calorie Counting
Calorie counting.....possibly the most dreaded thing to count. In the past year I have learned just how important is to count calories. I have heard for years that it is important and why we need to count calories, but it just didn't click. In the past year a light bulb went off and it FINALLY clicked. It clicked that in order to lose weight you have to burn calories and watch the calories you consume. It is a little embarrassing to admit it took 30 years for this to click.
I have been listening to Jillian Michael's Podcasts recently. Here is what Jillian said to do to figure out how many calories you should be consuming each day. Use a BMR Calculator and enter your data. How active are you during the day? Select your daily activity (do not include exercise):
1.1 - sit behind a desk all day
1.2 - salesman on your feet some of the day
1.3 - super active
1.4 - construction worker
Take your BMR multiply it by your daily activity = calories to intake each day to maintain your current weight.
example - BMR
Height - 5'5
Weight - 150
Age - 30
Female
= 1472
1472 BMR x 1.2 = 1766.4 calories to take in each day
If you want to lose weight you will need to each about 500 calories AND count your calories. This is currently what I am doing. I am counting calories and trying to burn 500 calories a day by working out. When I really watch what I eat I see the weight come off. I also have to make smart choices. I try to avoid too many carbs, pick fruits and veggies instead of chips or chocolate.
I have been listening to Jillian Michael's Podcasts recently. Here is what Jillian said to do to figure out how many calories you should be consuming each day. Use a BMR Calculator and enter your data. How active are you during the day? Select your daily activity (do not include exercise):
1.1 - sit behind a desk all day
1.2 - salesman on your feet some of the day
1.3 - super active
1.4 - construction worker
Take your BMR multiply it by your daily activity = calories to intake each day to maintain your current weight.
example - BMR
Height - 5'5
Weight - 150
Age - 30
Female
= 1472
1472 BMR x 1.2 = 1766.4 calories to take in each day
If you want to lose weight you will need to each about 500 calories AND count your calories. This is currently what I am doing. I am counting calories and trying to burn 500 calories a day by working out. When I really watch what I eat I see the weight come off. I also have to make smart choices. I try to avoid too many carbs, pick fruits and veggies instead of chips or chocolate.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Happy Birthday Lacey!!!!
Happy Birthday to the best sister ever!!!! Today Lacey turns 23! I can't believe she is 23 already! I remember when she was born and how excited I was to have a little sister!
Lacey thinks it is funny to take a picture with food in her mouth...how old is she again? lol
Now Lacey be serious for a nice picture as I pose with pizza. lol
Lacey & Cliff got these balls that light up. She decided to stick them both under her shirt!
Never a dull moment!
Menu Monday
Menu for the week!
Monday - Waffles & Eggs
Tuesday - Meatballs and Kale
Wednesday - Lasagna Soup
Thursday - Spaghetti with pork sausage
Friday - leftovers
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday Pinterest
I wanted to share 3 of my favorite things I found on Pinterest this week.
1. I <3 this saying!
2. What a stinkin' fabulous idea!
Source: Apartment Therapy
3. How adorable are these tiny little ice cream treats!
Source: Martha Stewart
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