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| Ugly sweater party...pay attention Matt |
Well...I do believe we have some catching up to do! I've been a bad girl and haven't posted for over a month, but I was super busy--which is a good thing!!! December went by so fast this year. We had a lot of fun activities that we participated in (note the ugly sweater party picture...I had one of Matt individually, but well...he was being goofy with his smile and I'm sure he'd be embarrassed that I posted it...you're welcome), but the most fun was the drive home to San Antonio for Christmas! I couldn't believe how pretty and relaxing the drive was. I suppose it's because it's through a really pretty part of Colorado, New Mexico, and finally Texas. The drive from Leavenworth to San Antonio wasn't as great. No offense to Oklahoma, but that part of the drive was really boring...sorry. The only bad part about this drive home was called a Tiggie....and she was NOT happy to be in a carrier. In fact we have decided to possibly slip her a little sum sumthin' the next drive to calm her down. She was so mad at me, that she refused to let me near her for a day and a half once we got there. I had a scratch on my leg to prove it...which occurred at some point during the first night when I guess I moved my leg in to her kitty space.
We were in San Antonio for a little over a week and boy was it great to be home!! I do miss San Antonio a lot. It's a great city. Our trip there was of course eventful as usual. I'm sure a lot of people saw on my Facebook about a lot of my family getting sick during our time there. It was a nice 24 hour thing that was excitedly passed along. But not really. Because it really stunk. My uncle and I were the only ones who did not get sick so therefore Matthew has concluded that I possibly was the carrier since it started with him. :) In any case, I know it wasn't exactly the most pleasant time for those who had this Christmas blessing, but it was also sad for me watching everyone else get sick around me. I definitely wish this hadn't happened since it took away from some family time. But stuff happens and at least we were all well on Christmas morning (note I said morning....)! After Matt and I got back from San Antonio we relaxed, which was nice. Tiggie was not mad at me when we got home, although she did make herself known off and on starting around hour nine of the drive until we got home. We went to a place called Jack Quinn's for New Years Eve. They weren't charging a cover and they had a free champagne toast at midnight along with fun hats and noise makers. Plus who doesn't enjoy listening to upbeat Irish music to bring the New Year in!? It made for some great people watching that's for sure! :) I didn't really come up with any New Years resolutions this year. Only goals really. I would like to find a part time job and do well in school this coming semester (yep...I am a University of Colorado-Colorado Springs student by the way!). I'd like to become more organized and maybe try a few new things...or have the confidence to try some new things. I gave Matt a New Years resolution though...to come to Body Pump with me. :) I'm just curious to see if he'd like it!
Earlier in December, we had our Brigade Coffee which was a cookie exchange! I told y'all I would give you the recipe of these delicious bars that are life changing (well..they are pretty tasty). And Matt really likes them a lot!! So you know they are good! (He isn't a huge sweets person, but I'm working on him!) Here's the EASY recipe complete with pictures.
GOOSEBERRY PATCH TURTLE PECAN BARS
Makes: the recipe says it can make 48...I was able to adjust the size depending on how big you want the bars to be. I ended up getting 24 out of my first batch and they were a pretty good size.
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter
14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
20 vanilla caramels, unwrapped*
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
*Note: I found Kraft makes caramel bits that are already unwrapped and ready to melt. I used about 3/4 of the package plus a little bit. I eyed the amount to be honest.
Preheat oven to 350!
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| Action shot! |
You then take this mixture and pour it over the baked crust. Yea...the pan is on the edge of the island there in that picture. I was trying to even everything out. Or maybe I just live life as a rebel...either one. 
Add your coconut flakes and pecans on top. Then bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.
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| Oh yeaaaaa.... |
Turtle Pecan Bars
I haven't been cooking all sweet things of course. I've been still keeping up with my Traveling Tuesdays, but I haven't really been too thrilled with my choices except the past couple of weeks. I've been looking more into stews and soups because it's been REALLY cold here. The other night it got into the negatives. Seriously. So stews and soups really made me feel warm and fuzzy when I was thinking about making them. And this stew that I'm going to share with y'all is pretty awesome. It's similar to Pork Posole.
ANCHO PORK AND HOMINY STEW
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons ancho chile powder*
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 1/2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
1 (28-ounce) can hominy, drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
Added: 1 can drained, whole corn...I know hominy is in the corn family, but I love corn! and now I'm obsessed with hominy too...
*Notes: I used regular chili powder because I could not find ancho. Feel free to not use this much depending on your desired heat level. I did two heaping tablespoons. Spicy!
The next things I did were chop all of the veggies (bell pepper, onion and garlic), as well as the pork. I'm all about prepping before hand. Y'all should know this by now! :) I also drained the corn and hominy. I put the veggies on top of each other because they were getting mixed into the pot together. Easy clean up and not a lot of dishes! 
Add the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil to your pot and add your bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Saute until they are nice and tender! Return your pork to the party along with your reserved spice mixture, broth, hominy, corn (if you're adding it), and your can of un-drained diced fire roasted tomatoes. 
Bring all of this to a boil. Partially cover and reduce to a simmer for 25 minutes. There was also a comment online that said she did everything up until covering the pot and once it was at a boil, she poured it into the Crock Pot for 5 hours or so. The original way was pretty easy for me. I also think the slow cooker might be something to try as well. If you do try it, let me know. I didn't know if the pork would get tooooo tender. 
I made some cornbread to go along with this stew which compliments it well. Topped it with some avocado (YUM!) and ate happily in this cold weather!!! This stew comes in at 300 calories even. Maybe a tad more with the corn added, but I think it was really good. Very comforting! Ancho Pork and Hominy Stew
In this New Year, I also decided that since I make dinner 3-4 nights out of the week and usually don't take pictures of it (your welcome)....I would still share some of the links of the dinners I've made with some comments and such. I thought it'd be neat for you to explore different foods without me typing a bunch of stuff! :)
Here are just a few yummies that were on the menu recently:
Braised Beef and Mushrooms --I actually HALVED this recipe because it makes 12 servings (yikes!!). I made this during the day last week so that I could prepare it in enough time for dinner. I think you could definitely make this in the Crock Pot. Since I don't have a Dutch Oven, I transferred it to a baking dish for the oven and baked it for 2 hours, took it out (turned off the oven)...went and worked out then came back, removed any fat floating (gross), and finished it off, baking it for 30 minutes or so. I also used baby portabella mushrooms because I couldn't find what the recipe called for. So I used 2-8oz packages of those mushrooms. This recipe was amazing. Matt really liked it a lot. I served it with salad and egg noodles! 224 calories per delicious serving!
Bacon and Goat Cheese Chicken --I love stuffing chicken or pork with different things and this was no exception! I actually used blue cheese for this recipe. But would definitely try goat cheese with it later. I was able to get more blue cheese per oz than goat cheese for a cheaper price. It made sense in my head. :) Plus I love blue cheese. I used the pre cooked thick cut bacon (yum) and made the chicken exactly how the directions said to. Except I add a bit of cooking time on for elevation purposes. I served this with a salad and orzo pasta. There are 283 calories per serving. I halved the left over chicken breasts and ate them on salads throughout the weekend! :)
Sweet and Fiery Pork Tenderloin --this was more sweet than fiery to be honest! I think I could have added a bit more Sriracha to it. I was a little nervous since Sriracha is pretty spicy! But this was really great! It was sweet with just a background of spice to it. The pork came out cooked perfectly and tender. The mango salsa compliments it very well and I actually took her suggestion and made the Brown Coconut Rice with Cilantro with it. Everything was extremely tasty. Besides the rice coming out a bit too al dente....note to self...pay attention when it says SHORT GRAINED rice (not long grained!). The flavor was amazing and out of this world. Just a tad crunchy...hey...I can make mistakes! At least it tasted lovely! The pork stands at 247 calories per serving and the rice at 206. A good healthy meal!
I made Beef Daube Provençal last night and do actually have pictures as it was a part of my Traveling Tuesdays (FRANCE!), but will include them with my next post. It was really awesome and I prepared it a bit differently so stay tuned for that! :)
Lastly, I'm excited about tomorrow night's meal of Baked Chicken Parmesan. All the taste of chicken parm without all the calories!!! It comes in at 224.5 calories per serving. I can't wait to try it and I can't wait to share my thoughts with you as well.
Okay so I think I'm done with this post. It's long. I apologize. Hopefully you have enjoyed yourself for the most part! :) Until next time my friends!!!
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| "Nope. Don't think so." |
