My Current Favorite "Healthy" Option Snacks

Please Note:  I am not being paid to endorse any of these products I just really like them.  Hopefully as I find other products I like I'll have more posts like this.

Okie Dokie Then

A few bullet points to explain the going ons.

• In case you missed it, the Superbowl is this weekend.  It also happens to be right about 1.5 hours north of here in Indy.  I don't do much football (I enjoy a good game, but I don't follow it or anything), so this is the only mention of it you'll get.  Apparently it's really neato downtown Indianapolis what with all they've done to prepare, but I hear it's also a complete madhouse.   I'll be staying close to home this weekend.  
• It's Monday and that always stinks like last years cheese. I'm already looking forward to the weekend.  
• In the health kick area, I'm walking a few days a week and in the off days doing random workout videos at home.  I tried a salsa dancing one yesterday.  It was a lot of fun, and it totally kicked my butt!  I hate exercising, but I'm trying to make it as fun as possible.  
• I'm planning on trying to complete some photo challenges/checklists.  I'm not going to be too picky about it.  The goal for me is to get more familiar with my camera and just get more experience in general.  Here are a couple I've found that look fun.

http://rebeccacooper.blogspot.com has several seasonal checklists that look fun!

I found this one on http://sherryturley.blogspot.com 

Honey Spiced Pork Chops

2 thick cut pork chops
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix everything but the pork chops up in a baggie.  Add chops and marinate 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place pork chops in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Drizzle 1/2 of the marinade on them.   Bake 2 minutes.  Turn chops and drizzle the rest of the marinade on top.  Bake another 20-30 minutes until done.  Serve!

Note: You can spoon the marinade in the baking dish on top of the chops when serving for extra flavor.

Beef & Green Bean Stirfry

2 steaks
2 cups green beans
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp corn starch
4 tbsp honey
3 tbsp sesame oil

Mix soy sauce, garlic, honey, and sesame oil in a baggy.  Put in steaks and marinate 1 hour.  Cook green beans.  Put steaks and onions in a heated non stick skillet.  I like my steak medium to medium rare, so I tried for that.  Turn off the heat.  Take out steaks and let sit for 5 minutes.  Slice steaks and add back to pan with onions.  Add green beans, corn starch, and rest of marinade.   Heat, stirring constantly, until sauce is formed.  Don't heat too long or sauce will become thick and, well, not good.  I let mine go a little too long, so it congealed a bit.  Still tasted good, but I would've liked more liquid.  I served mine with brown rice.

Playing with the Sun

The sun came out today!!!  I decided to play around with some attempts at sunflare.  I still can't seem to get it right.  Anyway, here are some photos from the sunny day.

{please excuse my lack of makeup and messy hair.  it's sunday}

{no smile.  he's pretty much a teenager at 10.  HATES getting his picture taken.}

Productive

I accomplished quite a bit today!  Grocery shopping and car oil change happened.  So did Josh's hair cut.

Doesn't he look cute!
I also cleaned out and organized 6 of my kitchen cabinets and washed, dried, and put away 3 loads of laundry.  It makes me feel good to get stuff done.  Oh by the by, is nature confused anywhere else?  Our trees are starting to get buds.  It's January.  That is just plain wrong.  I was very pleased to have the sun out today though!  Topeka kept switching spots around the house to lay in the pools of sunshine on the floor.  If it wasn't for the wind and cold temps, it would have been an outside kind of day!  Anyway, we're rounding out the eveing by watching Aliens.  We watched Alien with Josh last time he was with us, so this weekend it's Aliens.  We love those movies!  This Saturday was about as perfect as can be!

Feeling the Burn

So I don't want to jinx it...but I'm really enjoying exercising!  I don't know what's different this time, but I actually looked forward to walking tonight!  I've never looked forward to exercise!  I hope this feeling lasts!

Woops!  Fell asleep last night!  Well I walked again today.  I wasn't looking forward to it quite as much, but I really think it's b/c I was already so tired.  i slept awful last night!  Anywho, at least I feel better about myself for getting out there and exercising.  Jon even started walking with me!  I don't walk again until Wednesday, so I'm going to have to work it out at home tomorrow and Saturday.  Sunday is my day off!  Any ideas about at home workouts would be welcome!  I'm trying to keep changing it up so I don't get bored!   

Sweet Chili Chicken

2 chicken breasts

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

Mix the spices.  Coat chicken with spices and place into a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.  Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  I served mine with some Knorr noodles.  Yum!

Happy Monday...An Oxymoron

Hello all!  As you can see from the recent abundance of recipe posts, I've been in a Betty Crocker kind of mood.  Tonight I made stroganauff and banana bread.  See, totes living like Betty Crocker.  Anyway, we had a pretty good weekend. Saturday was super icy so we didn't venture out until the evening.  I had to run a photobooth at a work function.  It was a lot of fun!  I made a bunch of props and bought some more.  It was pretty successful too!  Here's Jon and I getting our pose on.

Awful pic of me, but I was a bit frazzled after working the booth at a work event.  It's so hard to know how to act at work events.  At least I had Jon there for support!

Anywho, we took Sunday real easy.  Did some laundry, watched some movie.  Ate some food.  I was IRATE to find that Picnik is closing!  And if they think that movie a fraction of their capabilities to Google+ which I now have to go to to edit my photos is going to make me feel better, they have another thing coming!  I really hope they plan on moving over more edits b/c you can't do crap with the Picnik in Google+.  Grrrrr.  So I spent my Sunday evening editing like crazy and making some printables for my upcoming parties.  So frustrated!  I don't have the money to get Photoshop, so what to do?  Any ideas?  Anywho, I'm gonna head off here and watch something with the hubs.  Mondays suck.  That is all.

A Sunday in Pictures

Sausage Cabbage Casserole

1 lb sage sausage, browned
1 head cabbage, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3/4 cup velveeta, cubed
1 can cream of celery soup
1/4 cup beef stock
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all up and back 1 hour at 350.

My Cradle List

aka Things to do before getting preggo

1. Jon gets new job
2. marathon Super Mario Bros 1,3,World, &64 with Jon
3. lose weight (me)
4. Jon and I only hike
5. Jon, Josh, & I hike and picnic
6. Complete 30 day photo challenge
7. paint kitchen
8. clean out garage and office
9. go to drive in theatre
10. take Josh to children's museum
11. Jon & I go to Yellow Springs OH for a weekend
12. Spend entire day in bed
13. go camping

Chicken Alfredo Biscuit Bake

1 can refrigerated biscuits, quartered
1/2 jar Alfredo sauce
3 button mushrooms, chopped
1 can chicken
garlic salt to taste

Quarter biscuits and toss with rest of ingredients.  Pour into an 8x8 greased baking dish and back 30-45 minutes.  Nom!  We loved this recipe!  I'll definitely be making it again!  Now what to do with the rest of the Alfredo sauce...

One of my favorite pictures of my mom and me

awwwwww...

This Will Probably Offend Sensitive Viewers.

You have been warned...













...  I have a new term.  We all know one.

Man Fetus

Def.  When a man is shoved so far up his wife's vagina, he has to be born again to get his balls back
aka.  Beyond uber whipped

My Taco Salad

2 cups shredded lettuce
1/2 cup taco meat (ground turkey works great as a lower fat option)
2 tbsp shredded cheese
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
2 tbsp fat free sour cream

Load it all on a plate and eat it up!  My husband adds salsa and taco chips, but I'm trying to be kinda healthy.  So good!

Honey Sauced Chicken

3-4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup ketchup
1 tsp garlic powder
dash pepper
dash salt
1/2 cup honey
chopped onion, to taste
2 tbsp veggie oil
1/4 tsp red pepper

Put it all in the crockpot and cook on low 4 hours.  Serve over brown rice.
Note: Next time I am going to add broccoli for the last hour of cooking time.  Nom.

Crescent Roll Ham & Cheese Pockets

Makes 2 pockets

1 can crescent rolls

8-10 slices ham

4 slices swiss cheese

2 tbsp honey mustard

Roll out crescent rolls.  There should be 4 rectangles each containing 2 triangles.  Seal the inside seam so that you now have 4 rectangles.  Pat out until thin.  On 2 of the rectangles, place 4-5 slices ham.  Pour 1 tbsp honey mustard over each.  Add 2 slices cheese each.  Top with other 2 crescent rectangles and seal edges.  Back at 350 for 25 minutes.

This recipe is really versatile.  I've made it with chicken, cheddar, and mayo.  I've also made it with our favorite pizza toppings, mozzarella, and pizza sauce.  They always turn out great!

Happy 90th Birthday Betty!

Hola

Man oh man.  I'm so over working Saturdays.  I'm having to work every Saturday this month and I hate it!  I can't wait until I'm done!  After work yesterday, we headed up to Columbus.  Josh had some birthday gift cards to spend, so we went to Target.  I did the grocery shopping while Jon and Josh checked out the toys.  Man does Target have some cute stuff right now!  I wish I had some extra cash to spend!  We stayed in Saturday night and watched Alien.  It was Josh's first time seeing it and he really like it!
Today we slept in then called Jon's Dad.  They got back from Germany last week and had some stuff for us!  We had an awesome visit with him and Michelle.  We stopped by Jon's Grandma's for a few minutes then headed home.  I took a nap while Jon took Josh back to his mom, then we headed to Dustin and Amber's for a few hours.  All in all we had a great weekend!  I'm off work tomorrow, so that's awesome.  Anywho, I've rambled for long enough.  Adios.

Why Hate Towards ANYONE Has No Place in This World

"When children learn to devalue others, they can devalue anyone.  Including their parents."
 - Capt Jean-Luc Picard - Star Trek: The Next Generation

Oreo Truffles

2 sleeves oreos
1 block cream cheese
almond bark

Pulse oreos in blender until crumb consistency.  Mix thoroughly with cream cheese.  Form into balls and chill 1 hour.  Melt almond bark.  Dip balls into bark and place on wax paper.  Allow to cool.  Refrigerate until served.

Sausage Corn Chowder

1 lb sausage
1/4 onion, diced
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 cans corn
1 can cream corn
1 can rotel
1 cup velveeta queso blanco, cubed

Fry up sausage, onions, and mushrooms.  Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer 10 minutes, then eat!

Holy Moses!

I realized today that I have been blogging for 2 years!  Time has flown!  Anywho here is my day in bullet points.

• Today was a manic Monday   
• The moon this morning was crazy awesome!
• Cold spaghetti for lunch = happy
• Trip to Columbus to get photo booth supplies
• Night driving with my husband brings about the best talks.
• Shin Chan with dinner
• blogging!

And here is a cute Topeka picture just for fun!

FYI

I closed my Tumblr account.  It just wasn't working for me.  But I now have a Pinterest!  See here if you want inside my brain.

Whew...

I think we are getting back to normal around here!  Slowly, but we're getting there.  Jon's fever broke and he's feeling much better.  I'll be so happy when we're all healthy again!  We've been feeling restless this weekend.  Understandable since we've been stuck in the house for 2.5 weeks!  Jon still isn't up to getting out and about, so we're still kicking it at home today.  I'm getting caught up on laundry and dishes.  I'm looking forward to being able to leave the house though.
Anywho, it's going to be a lazy day.  I'm 2 cups of decaf in and have no ambitions to do more than sit on the couch and veg.

Right that was a couple hours ago.  I did manage to get a couple things done in my lazy haze.  I finished the laundry and dishes.  I made spaghetti for dinner, nom!  I also watched a few episodes of Spaced.  If you haven't seen it you must!  The sun was out so I opened the back door and let Topeka soak it up.

He lay there for hours!  I also started planning my birthday party.  i'm going to be 30 this year, so I figured it's ok if I plan my own party.  I'm already looking forward to it!  So basically I had a really boring day by most people's standards.  Sorry this blog has been so lame lately.  Hopefully it will pick up now that the sickness has passed.  Then again...maybe not.  Later.

2012 needs to get better

no sooner did i finally get feeling better, then jon gets sick.  and a pipe goes wonky in the house.  sigh.  2012 really needs to shape up.  tomorrow is overtime work, taking jon BACK to the doctor, then hopefully sleep.  i'll be back when life is less sickness and more happy!

Cowboy Chili

1 lb hamburger
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes, do not drain
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/8 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup bbq sauce
8 strip bacon, cooked and chopped
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder

Brown hamburger in bottom of soup pot.  Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer 20 minutes.  Eat!  This would be good topped with some shredded cheddar cheese!

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings Soup

1 can refrigerated low fat or fat free buttermilk biscuits (5 count)
2 chicken breasts
1 box chicken stock
1 can fat free cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 tsp celery seed
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup frozen mixed veggies
1tsp season salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Put everything but the veggies and biscuits in the crockpot and cook on high 4 hours.  Shred chicken and add veggies.  Leave on high and heat 30 minutes.  Break biscuits into bite sized chunks and drop into crockpot.  Stir and cover.  Cook on high another 30 minutes.  Eat!

New Years Eve

New Years Eve was a fun time!  Saturday was the first day I was feeling back to more than 70% after bronchitis.  I went grocery shopping, cleaned the house a bit, we dropped Josh off with his mom, I took a much needed nap, then party prep began!  Considering I had been sick, I went super easy.  No decor, just some New Year hats.  No cooking, just chips, pop, and store bought sweets.  It was a good night!  We kept the guest list small.  Just Dustin, Amber, David, Kate, Zach, Matt, Jon, and me.  We played Scene It and sat around talking.  I'm pretty sure that's all I would have been able to handle anyway.  All in all it was the perfect New Year's Eve!  Nobody got stupid, we just had a good time!  Here are pics of Jon and I in our party hats!

Please note Jon's Abe Lincoln beard and me still looking a little sick.  I really hope Jon grows his mustache back soon.  I miss it!

Days off mean crafting

I made these today.  Like?

Candle-riffic

What does it say about me that I'm burning 4 different candles in one room?

2011: A Year in Pictures