Summer!!

These are in the freezer, hardening as we wait!!



I'll let you know how the recipe turns out and will post it if they are good. It's from Everyday Food and sounds yummmmmy! :) Happy Summer!

Saturday morning

So far today, I:

-sent Clint off to golf with his dad and brother at 6:45AM
-for some reason, did not get back in bed after send off.
-saw Charlie basking in the sunrise in the backyard (we are dogsitting at my parents) and decided to join him with some coffee and a good book.
-yelled at Charlie for spilling my coffee (all over the book, the blanket I had laid out and a Bible) and felt immediate remorse from the sweet look on his sad little face (he was only trying to have some fun!)
-got more coffee, spilled it all over myself as I sat down to read again, and felt more remorse
-read anyway without cleaning up second spill
-noticed GIANT mosquitos circling and decided to read inside (which Charlie was happy with bc he was getting hot anyway)
-read inside, had some diet coke, scrambled eggs, tuna and popsicles as it kept feeling like lunchtime but was only in the nines
-brushed Charlie so he would be pretty for going to Lorie and Rogers later
-Read Acts 1 and was confused about the basic drawing of straws for the new 12th disciple (doesn't that seem weird?!), researched a bit and realized they did not have the Holy Spirit yet, so what else were they to do without Jesus there but pray and trust that God would choose the right straw?
-Decided to look up the verses referred to by Peter as prophesy about Judas and was surprised to find they didnt't refer to Jesus or Judas at all (can you tell I have usually taken their word for it on references to the old testament??)
-Searched for a commentary, found many that skipped over that part of Acts 1, finally found one that said the verses are originally about David, who is a "Christ figure" and his enemies...which makes them allude to Christ and Judas, His "enemy." I guess most places the references are vague like this. I don't know why I thought they were all perfectly obvious before (probably bc I had never looked them up!) Any thoughts on that?
-Read a blog I am currently obsessed with and reading from start to finish like it is a book (Bring the Rain)
-smashed a bug, then left the shoe on top of it until Clint gets home because I do not want to pick it up
-eaten more popsicles (they are only 15 calories!)
-got a text from Clint that he is winning!
-Blogged a play by play of my day because I haven't blogged in 5 weeks and I'm feeling guilty.

Does that sound like a do-whatever-I-want-all-day day so far or what? It has been delightful but also I am not an alone time person for the most part so I am ready for my hubby to get home.

Tonight we are celebrating Father's Day with Lorie and Roger and then on Monday with my family since the rents are in Nashville this weekend.

I hope this weekend is nice for you as well. Isn't the summer weather wonderful?! (from sitting inside in the AC....horrible if you have to be out in it for too long) Something about summer just makes me happy. I'm off to get really sweaty taking Charlie on a walk, but he will be a happy puppy so I don't mind. (and I won't feel so bad about eating an unnamed double digit number of popsicles. yes i am still on the bodybugg bandwagon. i would love for you to get one and let me help you set it up. love it.) Happy saturday to you!


Me and Charlie reading :)

I am BUSY

Really really really busy!!!

So sorry for my lack of posting, and for the fact that this post will not be cool. Work is crazy right now and at times it is overwhelming working for two different people who both have May as their busiest month of the year. Trying to keep perspective and remember how thankful I am not to have to begin a summer of being the Ambassador of Fun in a few weeks. It's already too hot outside for that!! Thank goodness I work inside this summer. :)

Biggest Loser is on tonight and we are getting closer and closer to the finale and I'm just so excited!! Can't wait until 30 more minutes pass and I can watch! The plan is to clean during commercials as our apt is MORE than a wreck. Busyness will do that to an apartment, but even moreso since I'm not great at keeping it clean in the first place. Eek! (some of you may have seen the kitchen picture on facebook after baking my mom an Italian Cream Cake for Mother's Day...the kitchen has improved SLIGHTLY since then, but not much)

If anyone watched the Undercover Boss episode with 7-11, come see Igor at the NEW 7-11 store in our little shopping center by our apartment! We are so excited!! Igor is so cool. He was a delivery driver who was just so thankful for the "American Dream" and being able to get a job. He and his wife worked different shifts and barely saw each other, but he still had so much joy just because he was thankful for what he had. Joe DePinto (the undercover CEO of 7-11) gave him his own 7-11 store at the end of the show - and little did we know it would be in our backyard! Hooray! I love 7-11. Got coffee there this morning and it was splendid!!

We are having VERY annoying internet problems that cause me to have to disconnect the wireless network and reconnect it all the time. The process takes a couple minutes and its really annoying. Hence I haven't wanted to use the internet much as it puts me in a bad mood!

Here is the recipe for the Italian Cream Cake I made. It turned out wonderfully despite a couple of mishaps and redos! (turning on the blender and sending buttermilk everywhere, overbeating the egg whites, realizing I only greased, didn't flour the pans AFTER I put them in the oven and taking them back out, washing the pans, regreasing AND flouring...but it still worked!!)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/decadent-italian-cream-cake/

* CAKE BATTER:
* ½ cups Butter, Room Temperature, No Substitutes
* ½ cups Good Shortening
* 2 cups Sugar
* 5 Large Eggs, Separated
* 1 cup Buttermilk
* 1 teaspoon Good Vanilla
* 2 cups All-purpose Flour
* 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 1 cup Shredded Or Flaked Sweetened Coconut
* 1 cup Chopped Pecans

* FOR FROSTING:
* 1 stick Butter, Softened
* 1 package Cream Cheese (8 0z.), Softened
* 1 teaspoon Good Vanilla
* 1 pound Powdered Sugar
* Chopped Pecans For Garnish

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter, shortening and sugar in a large mixing bowl with electric mixer. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add buttermilk and mix well; add vanilla.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl; add coconut and pecans and toss together well, then stir into wet ingredients. Mix well by hand.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Fold gently into cake batter, then divide batter into 3 greased and floured round cake pans.

Bake 20-25 minutes at 325 degrees, or until lightly browned and cake tests done when a toothpick is inserted near the center. Cool thoroughly on wire racks in pans.

While layers are cooling, prepare frosting. Cream butter and cream cheese together in a medium bowl; add vanilla, and gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.

Carefully remove cakes from pans and brush off crumbs. Place bottom layer on serving plate, top with frosting. Place second layer over first, top with frosting, then place the last layer. Frost the cake, then sprinkle with chopped pecans as desired. You can cheat and make this with a white cake mix, but it’s just not the same.

Keep cake refrigerated.

ENJOY!!!!! (I just stole a piece of my mom's at her house...Mmmmmm!)

Quick, exciting (and sad) updates

Update #1: I'm still on the bandwagon with the Bodybugg. As of TODAY I have lost exactly 15 pounds since starting my attempt to lost weight using the Bodybugg. It has gotten easier and easier as I have gotten used to eating around 1650 calories a day and now it is just routine. I love it! I didn't really realize how much weight I had lost til I hit this milestone - 15 pounds! Wow. Weights that weigh 15 pounds are pretty heavy. So glad to have that OFF of me!! WAHOOOOO. I'm excited to keep going and hope to lose another 10 and then maybe gain some back in muscle....whenever I decide to start working out. :) Haha. So, there is the update. For some reason, this plan has been one I have been able to stay on, and I'm SO happy about that!

Update #2: Clint and I have officially been married 2 wonderful years! Our "day" was last Sunday and we went to Trulucks to celebrate, but it was a wedding filled weekend with Ashley's wedding and Caroline's wedding shower (and me being sick) so we waited til this weekend to really celebrate. We are off to a beautiful cabin near Beaver's Bend tomorrow at around 4pm!! We are so excited to have a relaxing, do-nothing weekend. It looks like it'll be rainy Saturday, but Sunday we might get in the canoe (the cabin is on a river) or build a fire or even go horseback riding! The cabin has a grill on the deck so we are bringing filet mignon and shrimp (got them at central market today - splurged - can't WAIT to feast on them!!) to make a nice dinner Saturday night. I can't wait to celebrate with my honey. He is so wonderful and I am SO lucky to be married to him. He is sick with what I had last weekend right now, so pray that he starts feeling better quick!!

Update #3: Tux, my childhood dog (a fiesty pomeranian) died today. My grandparents have been his real owners for the past several years and he became so sweet in his old age (if you knew him - he used to be quite the tiny terrorist to visitors in our home, but he grew out of it!). They really really loved him and are sad to see him go. He only weighed 5 pounds and his kidneys were failing. Poor thing. All of us girlfriends got dogs at around the same time in our childhood, and Tux was the last of the group to go. I believe he lived to be between 105 and 112 in dog years. He had a good little life. Goodbye Tuxy - we love you!

Update #4: We are still also on the Dave Ramsey bandwagon. Paid off our taxes we were paying payments on from 2008 this month. One more credit card to go and then all we have is my student loan. Feels good!

Tomorrow is FRIDAY! Happy almost weekend. :)

soooo excited!

This weekend one of my best friends is getting married! I'm so excited to be a part of her big day! :) Ashley was a bridesmaid in my wedding (2 years minus 1 day ago on her wedding day!) and we were roommates in LA. I love her and am SO excited for her and Casey!!!!! Congratulations you guys!!!

my new way to cook

... www.supercook.com !!!



this website is AWESOME!! i'm sure there are others like it, but i have not come across one, or at least not one this useful. you go to the site and start typing in some things you currently have in your kitchen. i have used it by first entering the ingredient i'm really wanting to use, like chicken breast or ground beef or strawberries or whatever i'm needing a recipe for. then it will have a list of ingredients it asks you if you have, and you just keep clicking yes and it keeps giving different ones that will help you make more recipes. you can emphasize certain ingredients (i tested it and tried strawberries AND tomatoes emphasized, and it found things with both!) and/or add keywords (side dish, etc). it then lists on the right of the page links to all the recipes online that you can make with the ingredients you already have, or what ingredients you need still to make them if you don't have them all. but generally there are hundreds you can already make which is quite wonderful bc i do not want to go to the store right now, thank you. i have LOVED it!! you know how sometimes you have an ingredient and you just don't feel like those few things you usually make with that ingredient? well this solves and AND helps you be adventurous in cooking!

So far i have used it to:

- find something to make with ground beef when i didn't really even have everything for spaghetti - it gave me a meatball recipe (actually i had several to choose from) and it turned out REALLY yummy. i had never made meatballs before so that was fun. just cooked some pasta and added some sauce and viola! a yummy new dinner.

- find something to use my yummy large shrimp from sprouts. mmmmm i let myself have butter smothered cilantro grilled shrimp and it was amazing! didn't actually even mess up my calories for the day either!

- wanted to try a new zucchini recipe and almost made some "zucchini cakes"... never had anything like them, but i do want to try them sometime!

- wanted something then our other chicken breast regular recipes, found a balsamic herb grilled chicken that was YUM! Clint is becoming an expert griller.

- and now i'm browsing supercook for something to do with my strawberries i need to eat. i don't feel like just chopping them up and adding a bit of splenda like i usually do. i also need to make some tea and am looking for a more exciting drink to make. my options i have narrowed it down to are(and i really haven't been to the store in quite awhile, so my ingredient list is not too large at all!):

for the strawberries:

-strawberry gelato (or balsamic strawberry sorbet, or strawberry foam, or...)
-"puffy dessert omelet" with strawberries
- oatmeal chewy squares
-Bretton butter cake with strawberry topping
-sweet wine fritters
-frosty strawberry dessert

for the drink:

-strawberry lemonade
-rico's passionate pink honey lemonade
-chunky strawberry lemonade

and then i also played around and found tons of apple crumbles, bundt cakes, cookies, etc that i could make right now. so cool. i think im just really excited bc whenever i think of making a recipe i think i have to go to the store to get the ingredients first bc what are the chance that i'll have all the things for whatever i decide to make. and this changes that. so i love it. hopefully i'll update you with new things i cook that supercook helped me find. i did do a play by play with photos of the meatball making, which i will post eventually. mmm i want to make those again!

happy cooking and recipe searching....warning - it can be addictive! :)

i'm addicted!

I LOVE the kindle for iPhone app. Love. I LOVE to read and have had to curb my habit a bit by only reading about a book a month or so since husbands do not appreciate being completely ignored for several days in a row/wives that have only had 3 hours of sleep bc they read til it was almost morning/making and eating dinner alone/nothing ever getting done except reading. :) When I read a book, I READ a BOOK. Like, only ever read the book. So, I indulge myself every once in awhile when I know of a good book I can sink my teeth into. (the Twilight series really threw us for a loop! that one took extra days...)

Right now our book club is reading "The Help" by Katherine Stockett. I went to Barnes and Noble to find that it is only available in hardback and costs almost $30! In another life, that would not have phased me a bit as it is a BOOK. :) But, I've morphed into a penny pincher in some areas, and that $30 could certainly be spent on 8 starbucks lattes, a shirt, something for the house, or a yummy diner out. After the nice lady at Barnes and Noble showed me where the book was, I put it right back on the shelf and decided it was time for me to try out this kindle app. (After reading about 30 pages of Upton Sinclair's book, "The Jungle." Random, I know. But the quotes in our history books about the horrors of being an immigrant worker in those times flooded back to me when I saw the book - they had always been so interesting. So I decided I needed to take some time and see if I wanted to read the whole thing. I read enough. Too depressing. I hate (most) old timey things so the hour at Barnes and Noble reading about the horrors of old timey-ness really puzzled the husband. In the end, interesting, but too tiring and depressing.)

I looked it up and was pleased to find "The Help" for $8.55 on the FREE kindle app! I tried out a sample of the book on the app for free to make sure I could handle reading only on my iPhone. (We won't mention that I read the entire 5th Twilight saga unreleased book manuscript as a pdf file on my iPhone...). I LOVED IT! Its so easy to use and not weird at all to me to read on there - I do it all day long anyway. Also, its so great bc now I can read anytime during the day. Waiting in line, at a traffic light, waiting for the water to boil.. :) So now I can read a book without being a total recluse and it is wonderful! I fully recommend it, or at least trying it to see what you think.

The book is really great too - not done yet though, about halfway through. But I recommend it also.

Well, I guess I'm off to read on the couch while the hubby, brother and friend play xbox. It's still hanging out, right? :)

my fridge

...looks like this right now.



and I am quite happy! :)

***update***

I had scheduled this post after I wrote it a few days ago, and sadly...there are now NO DIET COKES in my fridge. I think I have a problem!! Now I am quite sad. :(

I got an award! :)

I don't really know much about this whole blog award business, but I'm excited to get one! So, here goes...



RULES 1. Post where you would like to be in 10 years

Hmm. 10 years. I always think about where I think I'll be when I get to the expiration date of my credit cards but 10 years! That's a long time. I definitely would want some kiddos (and I have two wonderful girl names I've thought up lately so that would be good to be able to use those...but throw a boy in there too :)) and hopefully will own a home that we are always fixing up (in a good way). I would love to have some sort of entrepreneurial thing going on the side with my hubby. I would love to have grown VERY much from where I am now as a person - less selfish, more generous, less me-controlled, more spirit-controlled. I hope to be better at loving my husband, and to still make time for him and me only often. I want to be fit (for a 36 year old! haha) and be good at feeding my family healthy, yummy foods and teaching my kids to be healthy and to enjoy food. I would also love to own two cars, haha. :) And I'm determined to be debt free! That's about all I've got right now.

2. Pass it on to 10 other special Bloggers!

Hmm. Lauren already gave it to a lot of people, but here are some:

Vicky at http://mckinneypenny.blogspot.com/ for her second attempt at blogging! (I fully understand slackers!!)

Can I give it back to Lauren at http://ricardoandlauren.blogspot.com/ ? She deserves it for giving it to me! :)

I would like to give it to Angela and Abi at http://littleabiwallace.blogspot.com/ because I think it'd be fun to hear about where miss Abi will be in 10 years :)

Annnnnnd everyone else has already been awarded. Ok ok I don't know what I'm doing and I'm not sure there is anyone else I know who would think it would be cool to be awarded this. Sorry I'm not a pro blogger! :) If you would like to take my 7 awards left, please do! Because if you want it, you deserve it!

Bodybugg update

I realized I haven't talked much about my bodybugg lately and thought some (or most) of you probably were thinking I had fallen off the bandwagon - and with good reason! (Remember the Zone, P90X, etc?) BUT, I am happy to announce that I have NOT! I have been wearing my bodybugg and entering my food religiously now since Christmas. That's 9 weeks! And, what's even more exciting - I've lost about 9 pounds! My goal is to have lost 12 pounds by March 12 (not for any real reason, just bc when you set up the bodybugg program, it creates a 3 month goal for you with a certain amount lost each week). After that, I will create another 3 month program and keep on going! :)

On another note, I "sold" a coworker on getting a bodybugg and I'm helping her set it up this weekend. So excited! I'll keep you updated on how I'm doing with it more often now that I've realized it would be a good idea! Good accountability. :)

I'm even toying with the idea of promising to post my "before" pictures with some "after" pics once I meet my goal. But I would have to be quite a brave woman to promise that!! Clint and I took some intentionally unflatteringly lit before photos in swimming suits before we started P90X awhile back. I can assure you that NO ONE will EVER see them if there is not a pretty dang good after photo to put next to it. Even if there is, I'm not sure I could bear it. Who wants to look at a pic of themselves in a swimsuit at a time of life when they've decided they need to lose 20 pounds?! But we shall see! :)

Clint ordered me a pink strap to accessorize with for v-day, they had not come out with colors when I got my bodybugg. :) I'm loving it!



I also thought I would start adding a little structure to my blog with some tips/helpful ideas/takeaways from the Brock's life posts. So here are a couple tips/ways I've been keeping my calories down! (my goal each day is to eat 1650 cals or less and to burn 2250 or more. Most days I eat about right but some days if I sat around all day I do not burn as many as I'm supposed to).

-SOUP. Soup is awesome. I mostly eat Campbell's, but it's almost a guarantee that anywhere you go, soup is a good choice. I do not even really go for the "healthy request" Campbells bc I don't like them that much and the calories in the reeeeally yummy ones - think Chicken Corn Chowder - are not all that bad. Most are under 400 for the whole can. So that is what I do a lot of days for main course for lunch at work.

-Lean Pockets. 290 calories, and I think they are yummy. Amy's burritos are also good but cost twice as much. Another good lunchtime main course staple.

-I can't just eat those things at lunchtime though. I always want more/something else. So I bring things that are low in calories to go with it so I don't feel deprived. Individual diced fruit cups (80 cals), Chewy granola bars (90-100 cals), sugar free jello pudding (60 cals), an apple (100 cals or so), cutie oranges (35 cals), oatmeal sometimes for breakfast or a snack (160 cals), great value yogurt - GOOD and only 38 cents! (80 cals), or even a piece of candy (50-100 cals). I'll just bring one or two of these and I feel quite happy all day.

-At Starbucks I order it skinny and/or with no whip sometimes, but I really like my drinks there with whip, so a lot of times I will just go all out and make sure not to snack as much in the evening. It works out.:)

-For dinner/evening I try to have around 1000 calories left. Usually I'll eat 500-800 of them at dinner and then I like to have snack room left. But with 800 calories, you can really eat almost anything. Most meals at Olive Garden, notoriously bad for you, top out at about 2000 calories. So, if you split the meal (and they are giant!) you end up about right. At home, unless you are frying food or making something that is mostly cheese or cream (or eating too much food in general - I was before!), its pretty easy to stay under 800 as well. But, I will say we have a food scale and I do alot of weighing on it to make sure I'm entering the right amount of food into the program.

-I eat a LOT of sugar free 15 calorie popsicles. They are awesome. Dreyer's also has some real fruit ones that are 25 cals each but they are a splurge pricewise. We almost always have popsicles in the house.

-I still eat cereal occasionally, but I measure out a serving (usually 1 cup, sometimes 3/4) so I know what I'm eating.

-I enter my food I've eaten before eating something else. Otherwise I will enter my food and end up seeing that I ate too many calories and I underestimated. I can enter food on any computer so that isn't too hard to do multiple times a day.

-Deli turkey meat. So low in calories and so fulfilling and GOOD! We usually have cajun style and honey roasted. Mmmm I had 3 slices today as a snack when I got home from work. :)

-Hot tea with splenda and a bit of milk. Constant Comment Green or regular. YUM.


Wow, this is a long post! Sorry about that. I hope you skimmed through if you don't care about food tips! I'm planning on updating more regularly about what I'm eating and maybe working out (which I don't do that much but am starting to more now). Maybe that will help me not have bad weeks where I kinda give up (Valentine's weekend made that week a no-pounds-lost week...oops!).

Thanks for listening! I'm so enjoying STAYING on the bandwagon this time. It's a much better feeling! I'm also staying on the blogging bandwagon better this time too! Hooray!

Happy Tuesday! Have a great week! :)

solving the mystery...

..of poached eggs. Never had one, never made one, never really understood them.

The inspiration:



Everyday Food magazine. They insisted that poached eggs were easy and that you could put them on/with anything. We bought an 18 pack of eggs on our last grocery run and had lots left, so I decided it would be fun to try.

I made a little english muffin-mozzarella-tomato-spinach-toast thing to try eggs with. Turned out looking YUMMY!




I asked hubby if he wanted to try my first attempt and he asked if I was making another one. When I said I was, he said he would like to try the second attempt. Ha! But he isn't too fond of things that are mushy and runny and seem like they might be undercooked, (even moreso when his wife is telling him she doesn't know what these are supposed to look like when they are done) so it was still sweet of him to give it a try on round two.

First try:



I thought it was pretty darn good and ate the whole thing. :) I had to leave it in the water longer than it said because I don't think I let it get hot enough before I put the egg in. But all in all, it seemed good to me!

Egg #2: Hubby did try this one and thought it was pretty good. The english muffin combo was dang good with it! (Lucky for me, he only wanted the one bite, so I got to eat the rest!) Looks like I almost broke the yolk, but it held, yay!



And egg #3...perfection!





I happily finished off this one as well. :)



So, poached eggs are quite wonderful, and I think I might try some other recipes with them another time. Still not sure I did it exactly right, but they were good enough in my opinion. Maybe I'll have to order eggs benedict next time I go out for breakfast. :)

Since hubby wasn't too fond of the eggs, he opted for this:



Which he insisted on eating out of the saucepan, as he always does. Very manly. To each his own!



Happy Sunday evening! Have a great week!

Love :)

What a wonderful Valentine's weekend! We relaxed a lot, saw Aunt Lea and Uncle Jake who were in town from Amarillo, watched the Olympics, and celebrated!

On Saturday when I got back from Ashley's shower (fun!) I found this:



What a sweet husband I have. (That little candy is a ring pop, my favorite!)

That evening we went to Kara (Clint's step sister) and Jason's house to hang out with Aunt Lea and Uncle Jake who were in town. Jason had smoked a bunch of meat including ribs and it was soooo good!! I even accepted their offer to give me some to take home and didn't share any of the leftovers with Clint. Poor thing! :) Now I want a smoker! (It turns out Aunt Lea had to go to the hospital last night unexpectedly for what they thought was a heart attack, but it didn't end up being one. So keep her in your prayers.) We had a great time with the kiddos too!

The next morning Clint found two pettifores from Stein's (his favorite) and a funny Valentine's card. He also started my morning right with this:



MMMmmmm. I love these. He gave me one in my stocking at Christmas and I was hooked.

I also gave him a Starbucks card...I've had one since Christmas that I have been using and I know he was jealous, haha, so it was the perfect gift! :)

We enjoyed a very relaxing day including lunch at Aboca's - an amazing hole in the wall Italian restaurant you MUST try if you live in Richardson - with Clint's dad. Thanks Keith! :)

After moving back the reservation from 7:30 to 8 because I wasn't ready yet, we headed to Koto for some yummy sushi. It's just right by our apartment, so we walked which was fun but FREEZING. We had a great time and were so glad that it turned out to be really yummy! It was our first time to try this place and we were pleased. We ordered off of a special valentine's menu that included the "Lover's Roll" which was even wrapped in pink soy paper. So cute!



The calamari and rock shrimp were also quite tasty. It was a lot of fun! I love my cute husband so much! :)



He confessed that he had just shoved the flowers in the vase however he could get them to fit, so I had some fun arranging them. I've always loved arranging flowers! So pretty! Can't wait to see them bloom.




Happy love day! :)

a day for soup

I just made this soup, which I made once last year (thanks to Katy's wonderful wedding present, a year of Cooking Light) and somewhat forgot about. The snow today made me want soup, and I remembered how good this was, googled it, and found it while at Target. :) Bought the stuff I didn't have, and came home and made it while Clint hung things on our walls. Yay for snowy days and warm soup and staying inside!

I modified the recipe a little bc Target was charging like $2.69 per bell pepper and we don't even like them that much, so I didn't put them in (except for the ones in the can of corn). Also they didn't have Serrano peppers and I googled them and they are hotter than jalepenos, so I substituted with mostly poblano (bc I knew they had a good flavor) and a little jalepeno (who knew a fresh jalepeno was like, 6 cents?!) to put a little heat back into it. The poblano pepper was a perfect substitute as it kinda filled in for the bell peppers too. YUM!!! It is very creamy despite the fact that there is no cream in it. The little flour at the beginning and the potatoes go a long way. I ate WAY more than a serving!!!


Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons butter (I used smart balance and some calorie free oil spray)
* 1 cup chopped green onions
* 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped serrano chile (about 1 small)
* 1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles, undrained
* 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
* 1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1 1/2 cups frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes, diced, thawed
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 (15.25-ounce) can whole-kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained
* 1 pound peeled and deveined small shrimp
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, bell pepper, and serrano chile to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add canned chiles to pan; cook 1 minute. Add flour to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in milk and next 5 ingredients (through corn); bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in shrimp; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are done. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro.

Nutritional Information
Serving Size: 1 cup

Calories: 212
Fat: 6.7g (sat 3.4g,mono 1.5g,poly 0.7g)
Protein: 19.3g
Carbohydrate: 18.3g
Fiber: 2.2g
Cholesterol: 130mg
Iron: 2.5mg
Sodium: 702mg
Calcium: 131mg

Let me know if you make this! I'd love to hear if you liked it.

The apartment is coming along but still not ready for its close up. We hung some things, but a pretty large glass plate then decided to fall back down and crash on top of my newly painted desk and crack into a zillion pieces. So I spray painted the scratches (yes, inside our apt) and pouted for a bit and got nothing else done. So there it is. Photos still to come. Sorry! I did score a lamp shade I really had wanted at Target for $4.24 though. Good things come to those who wait (and forget about things they saw at full price a long time ago and liked)! :) It looks perfect on the desk, even if it is a little big for the lamp I have it on right now. I'll just switch it out when I come across a taller lamp on sale somewhere. :) Me and Clint laughed at it bc it looks like it has too long of pants on or something. But I don't care. It's pretty.

Before and After

...of our new desk!

A couple weeks ago I searched and searched on craigslist for a desk with lots of drawers that was still cute and small, but could also house hanging files. It also needed to be not too nice so that I didn't feel bad painting it. I found the perfect one, paid $50 for it, and then it sat at my parents house for weeks while we waiting to move in and see what color it should be.



I had originally wanted to paint it a fun, bright color, but that doesn't really go with the modern, muted colors in our new place (which you will see in a post soon! we have a few more things to hang on the walls). So I ended up settling on a dark, muted navyish color, but bought the cutest green drawer pulls. It turned out better than I had hoped! Spray paint works wonders -- I highly recommend it. We had spray painted our bedroom furniture awhile back, so I kinda knew how it worked...but I forgot one very important thing - the spray handles! They make it so that you don't have to use your pointer finger the whole time. Hard to explain, but let's just say after a few minutes of spraying, my hands were stuck in a claw shape. BUT I had to keep spraying bc one, it was getting dark outside by the minute, and two, you have to apply the paint to the primer within an hour of putting it on, so I had to finish before it got dark. Not to mention the fact that it was FREEZING outside and the only shoes I had were my Uggs, which I did not want to ruin, so I was in my SOCKS on WET ground. Hence the almost frostbite. :) Though my forearms and hands had trouble doing simple things like locking my apt door or opening a can of soup today, the result was worth it! TADAHHHH!









I love it!!!

Cool post tomorrow, testing today

Using pixel pipe from my phone! Testing 1,2,3!?

Cool post tmw about how my hands are currently painted blue and my toes almost got frostbitten today. You'll see the result!!

Baby Rose is coming!!!

Katy is in labor right now! Just wanted to post so that anyone who saw this could pray for the Roses. I love you guys and I hope baby Rose's birthday is wonderful! This is such a special day!! I'm so happy and couldn't be more proud of you!

7-Eleven, Bodybugg, Family

Just took a wonderful walk with Charlie, Clint and my mom to 7-Eleven. We used to take the same walk when we were little and it was the highlight of the WEEK! I can remember picking flowers for the cashiers along the way and happily presenting them to him as we bought our slurpees. We also thought it was cool that Laine's birth weight was 7lbs 11 ounces so it was kind of her store. 7-Eleven is really a great store. Having worked with them now for a while (I work for their Dallas PRC on Tuesdays and Thursdays), I have really noticed how nice and hardworking everyone involved is. And they put out a quality product. It's like a happy little family...and it has been a part of my family since I can remember. I love 7-Eleven! If I was rich, I think I might even like to own one.

Part of the reason for the walk was to rack up some extra burned calories on my Bodybugg. If you don't know what a bodybugg is, as lots of people I have found do not...watch biggest loser!! Haha.

It is quite a little wonder. Very motivating...and motivation is not something I have been able to find in the last long while....like since our wedding! I have worn it for the past almost 4 weeks straight and have LOVED it. I'm threatening to become a salesperson for them on the side bc I love it so much. I got it from my parents for Christmas and got the digital display (the watch looking thing) from Clint Dad and Trish for Christmas. It's a pricey combo but totally worth it. It also comes with online software and a subscription so that you can upload your burned calories (you connect the bodybugg through usb) and enter your calorie intake. It tracks everything and shows you how much you should be losing if you are entering your food correctly. One of the best things about it is that it shows you how little it takes to burn a few extra calories in a day. A nice walk, playing some intense Guitar Hero (we have had two noise complaints since I realized this burns a good amount of calories!), simply standing instead of sitting, going to the mall to window shop instead of watching tv...so many enjoyable, non-exercise things can add to your burned calories and really help you have a good deficit for the day. If you do go running or something, it does it a lot faster, but it shows that all you have to do is try to be active and get yourself moving a little. And then you don't have to eat dry salad and grilled chicken all the time, you have some room. I believe I have probably had one indulgent thing every single day since starting this "diet," and I have still lost the amount of weight I was aiming for (so far). It's just keeping in mind how much you have had and choosing what/how much to eat with your brain instead of your eyeballs/how-much-do-I-want-it-o-meter. It's like a little game. Yesterday I entered all my food and pressed submit and it came out to my EXACT goal of 1650 calories. I raised both hands in the air in celebration (Clint said I looked like Brett Favre) at my preciseness. And, even if you do go over on calories because someone made chocolate cake or bought you dinner out...just play a little extra Guitar Hero at the end of the night. :)

Baby Rose has not showed up so far, so continue to pray for the wonderful Rose family who are in anticipation of his arrival! I'm so excited for them and their new family. I can't believe my best friend is having a baby!! I love you Roses and I know you will be the best parents ever. I'm glad yall are gong first because I know I will have a lot to learn from yall and you will be wonderful examples!

New Year's thoughts...including more blogging!

(please excuse the acorn background...no time to change it at the moment!)

Well, does blogging every 5 weeks or so count as blogging more? I don't really think so. I need to blog more so all my blogs won't be about how I never blog. Wow. That's a lot of blogs. I'm going to get a blogging application for my phone and try to think of blogging as more of a journal and less of a "I have to retell everything that's happened since I last blogged." In fact, I think I'll download the app as I type. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years with friends and family. I just love being with people I love, doing nothing or everything or anything. It is the best. Good thing I live with one of the ones I really love doing anything with and get to see the others (some of them...others I don't get to see as much as I would like!) as much as possible. So thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. So blessed. So thankful that Jesus came to give us all life and that we get to celebrate Him in such a neat way during the Christmas season. I hope to continue that celebration throughout my life this year.

Well, House is recorded on the DVR, and I must stick to my plan, though I am tempted to upload tons of pictures and tell you about everything that has happened since my last blog. Next time I'll tell you about my bodybugg, another time about our new apt (jan 30!) another time about how Dave Ramsey is whipping us into shape. I'll also remind you to pray for the Roses and their little baby Rose who is coming any day now. I'll actually blog about the title of this post, New Year's thoughts...once I get them all together or have a few. Happy New Year to everyone! Thanks for being a part of our 2009!