Hobbies and Health Lately

Obviously, by my million posts about Project Life, you see that I've found a creative outlet lately! :) I've been doing other things too, of course, like keeping a sweet 2 year old and a squirmy 7 month old alive. I've been back at church choir, after a long hiatus this summer (during my difficult season with Miller's dietary issues), and I'm sooooo thankful to be back! Of course, we're working on Christmas music, which is crazy, but lots of fun. Wednesday night and Sunday morning are some of my favorite places to be. God is always present in our time together.

Jason has been working out at Crossfit for a couples months and really loves it! Through that group, he has become more interested in the Paleo lifestyle. At first I was very reluctant, but now I'm ok with it, just not committed to it (yet). We've been making healthy dinners and stuff, but I haven't been strict with it the rest of the day, but J has! I'm proud of him for sticking with it, and for being patient with me. 

So that said, he bought the "Against All Grain" cookbook and we've liked everything we've made so far: mashed cauliflower, lemon-garlic zucchini, BBQ burgers, chicken broth, butternut squash soup, and my most favorite - banana bread! Mmmmmm...

I joined the YMCA last month! There is one really close to our house, and childcare is almost always available, so no excuses! (Well except for the "my kids are sick" excuse. But we're all better now!) When I go to the Y, I either do strength training (via the ActivTrax site/app), or I go to Zumba! I didn't know what all the fuss was about - I have several Facebook friends that do it regularly, and now I know why! It's fun, fast, and it will make you all sweaty. Which, in my case, is a good thing, since I don't tend to push myself with cardio on my own. 

Ok so we've covered my creative outlet, working out, Paleo stuff... Oh yes. My personal revelation that is not new to anyone. I've come to realize, if I don't have a plan for the day, I get nothing accomplished. Simple but such a revelation for me. One day this week, I made a really long to-do list (more like a brain dump of all the tasks that have been swimming around in there) and thought I would try to get one thing done during naptime. I ended up crossing like 6 things off the list! However, on the days that I don't have a list/plan, then even if I do several things, I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. Plus, I'm the kind of person that likes to cross things off... are you?

(story of my life)

So there you go! Some of the things going on in my world lately! Stay tuned for "Clothes & Habits Lately", I know you're just DYING to know. ;)

What have YOU been up to lately?

Bread Fail

At the beginning of this endeavor, I didn't know that it was going to end in failure. :) But I took pictures in hopes of being able to share my "wonderful homemade bread" recipe with all you fine folks... So I'll hit the highlights and then hope that next time will result in MUCH better bread.

The local honey I bought at the Chattanooga Market this weekend.

wet ingredients

mixin' it all up after adding the dry ingredients

letting the mixer knead for me

about to begin the rising process

the recipe made enough for 1 1lb loaf and 12 dinner rolls

The finished products!

So here's what went wrong. First, I had one recipe in mind that I wanted to use, but accidentally used a different one (same website, but two different recipes). Then I didn't really think about the fact that it's been a long time since I bought yeast... so yeah, my yeast didn't end up working. And last, I used a 2lb loaf pan instead of a 1lb pan, so that resulted in much flatter bread than expected. 

My wrong recipe, flattened, unleavened bread is so dense and heavy... Still edible, but only just barely. :) 

Better luck next time to me!!

Yummy Morning Smoooovie

Smoooovie = Smoothie

Many mornings I turn to a smoothie as my breakfast of choice (or as part of it, depending on how hungry I am...) I know everyone probably knows how to make a smoothie, and if you don't, a quick google search could help you out, but I thought I'd share how I make mine. 

Cast of Characters: frozen fruit (I use a variety mix from WM and frozen blueberries also from WM), vanilla almond milk, orange juice, and my trusty Magic Bullet.

First I fill my cup about halfway with the frozen fruit 

(strawberries, peaches, mango, and pineapple)...

Then I add in some blueberries, not because I like them (because I'm not a big fan) but because I know they are good for me!

Then I add almond milk almost up to the top of the fruit...

...and then orange juice to cover the fruit. 

You could definitely just use one or the other, but I really like the way it tastes with both.

Then I put it on the amazing Magic Bullet and watch it do all the work for me.

Action shot.

And the cool thing about the MB is that cup you blend it in is the cup you drink it out of, 

so no additional clean up, which I'm a big fan of. 

(It was $50 at BB&B and I used a 20% off coupon - definitely worth $40 to me!)

Then it's time for me and Jack to share our yummy morning smoooovie. I should have taken his picture this morning (duh!) with his smoothie all over his face. Next time. :)

I pretty much stick with this recipe and only change it up by what fruit I put in the cup (more strawberries or less, etc.). One time I added spinach and it was super nasty, so Becca suggested that I may have had a bad piece in there. I will have to try that again because I know I need more good stuff in there. 

Do you guys eat/drink smoothies? What's your favorite recipes?

Making Baby Food

Even though store bought baby food isn't that expensive (and it sure is convenient!), I thought I would try my hand at making some of Jack's food! It was also the perfect excuse to buy the Magic Bullet I'd been eyeing... (Hellooooo smoothies!)

I had gotten some squash and zucchini for Jason and I to sauté or grill for dinner, and got extra to puree for baby boy. I washed and cut up each veggie, then steamed them for about 20-25 minutes (fork tender). Then tossed it in the Magic Bullet (with no water - these are watery vegetables as it is) for like 15 seconds... well a little longer for the zucchini to get the skins good and pureed. 

Then the question was, "Is he going to like it?"

Ummm... yes, he totally does. He ate almost all the squash I put in this container! 

I wanted to save some for later, so I poured them into ice cube trays to freeze; each cube is about 1oz of food. 

This was 3 small yellow squash and 2 medium zucchini, and I saved out a good portion of each to feed him right away/for the next day.

Did he like the zucchini too? 

I'm tellin' ya - the kid likes food. Period. 

Thank goodness he's not picky like Mommy!

Sarah Eats Salmon

Jason and I have been talking about eating more fish since it's so good for you. Now, I'm not a big seafood person, so this is a stretch for me. Anyway, I saw a recipe for the "best way to cook salmon" on Pinterest that looked easy enough. So last night I made it and it turned out perfect!!

Salmon, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and rolls.

It was a seriously good meal. 

Add salmon to the rotation!

PW's Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Last night Jason and I made a fabulous dinner! (Though it took a little longer than we anticipated...)

We made two Pioneer Woman's dishes: 

"My Favorite Meatloaf" and "Delicious, Creamy Mashed Potatoes". 

Sweet hubby was in charge of making the meatloaf!

Mmmmmm... yum city.

All the while, this girl was working on mashed potatoes. Washing, peeling, cutting, boiling, draining, mashing, adding, stirring, taste-testing... they were FABULOUS. Especially since I've been making the blasphemous instant kind recently... 

The meatloaf was supposed to take 1 hour, and it actually did. I mean, I guess that shouldn't surprise me?  But let's be honest... an HOUR?! Sheesh!

Even still, it was so yummy!! Jason has loved all the PW recipes I've made, so I'm sure we will continue to consult the cookbook. :)

Have you had anything yummy for dinner lately?

Meal Plan for the Week

We had such a great weekend! Friday night we went to a friend's house for a Sunday School Christmas party. We ate and played games and had a really great time!

Saturday morning we cleaned a bunch of JUNK and empty boxes out of the basement, and Jason and Hunter hauled them to the dump/recycle center on their way to help their grandparents move some furniture. That night we had a yummy Panera dinner, then retreated back to the house and hunkered down for the night.

Sunday morning we made it to church, then went up to my parents' house for Nick's (family) birthday party! Ahhhhh!!!!!!! I can't believe he will be 13 this Friday!!!! Unbelievable. Seriously. Pictures will be posted tomorrow!

And it snowed!! WHOO HOO!!! Enough to get the kids out of school, but not enough to cancel work. Bummer, right? Oh well. Here are two pictures of last year's snowy-ness to tide you over for now.

For now, I'm keeping myself accountable and letting you know what's on the menu this week.

Monday: Cheddar Ranch Burgers
Tuesday: Salsa Chicken (aka chicken with salsa dumped on top, cooked in the crockpot all day)
Wednesday: Stromboli!! (love this stuff!)
Thursday: Chicken Fried Steak Strips

Here's hoping I follow through! :)

Mmmmm... Fudge

Last week, as part of my "make tons of Christmas goodies" goal, I made CHOCOLATE FUDGE. And not just any chocolate fudge, my mom's recipe of super easy chocolate fudge (would I make it if it were hard?). So here's the recipe for you and a picture of fudge that is not our fudge. But I didn't think to take a picture of our fudge. Maybe next time.

picture source

Super Easy Chocolate Fudge

1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 bag of butterscotch chips

1 can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk

handful of mini marshmallows

tsp of vanilla

shake of salt

*Pour the Eagle Brand in a saucepan, and let it start to warm up for a few minutes over medium heat.

*Then add the whole bag of chocolate chips.

*Stir. Stir. Stir. Stir some more. Until all the chocolate is melted. Then - guess what?

*Add the whole bag of butterscotch chips and stir.... stir..... your hand may hurt a little.
*Once your butterscotch chips are melted, grab a loving handful of mini marshmallows (after eating a few) and plop them into your chocolately goodness.
*Stir.
*Once you are all stirred up, add a shake or two of salt and a little vanilla, and stir again. :)
*Pour into a 9x11 pan and let it cool. Or don't. Definitely at least try some while it's still warm. It will rock your world.
*Cut it up into little squares and put it on a cute plate to take with you, or leave it in the pan (like we do) and cut pieces to the size of your liking. :)

We're bringing this to all of our Christmas parties in the upcoming weeks. It's so easy and SO YUMMY! I want to try a new variation (peanut butter chips, anyone?) but it's just so good the way it is, I hate to ruin a good thing.

Tell me if you try this! You won't regret it.

Okra Soup & Cheese Biscuits

Last night I decided that I wanted some yummy tomato-based soup with 1,000,000 pieces of okra in it, henceforth known as "okra soup". It was a little bit of an experiment (but hey - I finally made a new recipe!), and I can already tell you what I would do differently next time, but luckily, the hubster liked it.

My big mistake was when I bought diced tomatoes, I decided that it would be "smart" to get garlic, basil, & oregano to add extra flavor. What I got was a spaghetti sauce wannabe, not a vegetable soup feeling. Booooo. Next time I'm getting plain, but you get whatever kind you want. :)

Okra Soup

minced garlic

carton of chicken broth

bag of frozen okra

can of diced tomatoes

1/4c of rice (or however much you want)

(also called for corn but hubby doesn't love it) 

really you could put anything else you wanted, J wished for meat - ground beef or kielbasa

Saute garlic for 5-10 minutes. (Next time I will saute meat at this point.) Add chicken broth, diced tomatoes, and okra. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes (long enough to make the cheese biscuits). Add rice and cook for 5 more minutes or so (long enough to unload the dishwasher). Taste and season to your liking. :) Enjoy.

And OH SNAP - I made my mom's cheesy garlic biscuits... they rocked. If I had had more Bisquik, I would have made a ton more.

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits

1c Bisquik (2c was original recipe)

1/3c milk (2/3c was original recipe)

handful of shredded cheese

2 shakes of garlic powder

melted butter on top

Preheat oven to 400. Mix bisquik, milk, and cheese together until soft dough forms. Add 2 shakes of garlic powder (or however much you want, really). This should have made six. I should have made 6. But I made 4, and then I had to squish them down after 8 minutes because they were started to brown but they weren't nearly done. So yeah. Make 6, bake them for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Brush melted butter on top (or pour squeeze butter and smush it around with a spoon - you gotta improvise sometimes. And I wasn't dirty-ing up another dish just to melt butter).

It was all very yummy! A great winter meal! :)

Beef Stroganoff - Improvised

Now that I have fully satisfied your hunger for football, I wanted to share with you what we had for dinner last night.

Let me just start by saying I rarely use cookbooks. It's just so simple to search for something on the internet, that I typically get my recipes online. Last night was no exception. I knew we had beef that we needed to use, but I didn't know what to make. I also REALLY didn't want to stop at the store.

I don't know about you but when I search for a recipe, I always go ahead and throw "easy" in front of whatever I'm searching for. Because, well... the alternative is hard. And I don't do hard.

So I searched for "Easy Beef Stroganoff" and find this recipe from allrecipes.com. Okay, I can work with this - beef, noodles, sour cream, beef broth, flour... I got this stuff. Now, granted, I didn't have egg noodles (which would have made this dish better, in my opinion), and I didn't have beef broth readily available. However, I always keep a little jar of beef boullion and chicken bouillon so all I had to do was boil 1 cup of water and add a beef bull. cube.

My modified and improvised version is below:

Ingredients
1/2 box noodles, cooked and drained {I used rotini b/c I had it, but egg noodles would have been YUMMY}
2 tablespoons butter
spoonful of minced garlic {blue lid, got it at WM in the veggie section}
1 pound lean ground beef
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup beef broth {1c water and 1 beef boullion cube}
1/2 cup sour cream
"dash" of worcestershire sauce
"splash" of milk to make more sauce {if necessary}

Directions
*Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook noodles in boiling water until done, about 8 minutes. Drain.
*In a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat, add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.
*Using the same pan, melt remaining butter. Cook ground beef in melted butter until browned.
*Mix in flour. Stir in beef broth, and cook until slightly thickened. Stir in sour cream. Add dash of worcestershire for additional flavor.
*Continue cooking until sauce is hot, but not boiling. {If necessary, add splash of milk to make more sauce, or if you're reheating it later.} Serve sauce over noodles.

Dude, this was reallllllly yummy. Lots of flavor! We just served it with green beans {which I also add a cube of beef boullion to to give them more flavor} but I should have made mashed potatoes to go with it too. Mmmmm... mashed potatoes. Anyway, we will definitely have this again!

Grilled Chicken & Zucchini w/Pasta

Near the end of summer I found a recipe with chicken & zucchini {2 things I could eat every night} that I really wanted to try.

source

The first time we made it we grilled the chicken and zucchini on the grill, but last night we used the george foreman for the chicken, and I sauteed the zucchini in the pan (& then took it out) before I started adding the other stuff.

Grilled Chicken & Zucchini w/Pasta

{a.k.a. "honey, will you make that stuff with the gorgonzola cheese?"}

Ingredients
3/4 box whole wheat rotini
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise & diced into chunks
{her recipe called for tomatos, but I skipped that part.. sorry, hon}
olive oil
seasoned salt
4 Tbs. butter
spoonful of minced garlic {from the little blue jar}
2 cups half & half, warmed  {or not}
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
5 oz Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled {find this near the deli counter at WM, not where shredded cheese is}

Recipe
*Boil the pasta.
*Sprinkle the chicken breasts with seasoned salt and grill till done, then slice.
*Sautee the zucchini with olive oil for about 10 minutes.
*Melt the butter in a skillet. Cook the garlic in the butter for a minute or two.
*Whisk in the half & half and cook for a few minutes over medium heat.
*Stir in the cheeses and let them melt.
*Mix the drained pasta, chicken, zucchini, and sauce together and serve. Makes approximately 6-8 servings.

The first time we made it, I wasn't crazy about it because the gorgonzola is a really strong cheese, but this time, I made myself a bowl and added several splashes of milk to it, to tame down the gorg. Next time I may go ahead and add about 1/3c of milk to the end to make it a little creamier/saucier. 

What was for dinner at YOUR house last night?

La-sag-na

Don't forget to sign up for the CurlyPearl jewelry giveaway!!

Last night I made lasagna for the very first time ever!

(mark off that new recipe challenge)

32oz ricotta, 1c mozzarella, 1/4c parmesan, and 2 eggs (or equivalent egg whites)

1lb ground beef sauteed with garlic, add 32oz sauce

Layer layer layer - sauce, "oven ready" noodles, cheese mixture, repeat.

I forgot to take a picture before I covered it with foil and put it in the oven (at 375*), but here is what it looked like when it came out about 45-50min later.

We used Prego Veggie Smart sauce (50% daily veggies in each serving), but it didn't have as much flavoring as we're used to. Of course, we didn't know this until we were actually eating but yeah, so next time, we're going to try a different sauce.

What did you have for dinner last night?