Happy New Year....two weeks late! :)

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!

Action shot!

Stir together your flour and brown sugar, then you cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles course meal.

Next you will want to pour out this mixture into a 13x9 pan. I actually used a tip my mom directed my attention to online which calls for you to line the pan with foil (having it overlapping the ends and high on the sides--see picture) so that when you get ready to pull the bars out to cut them, you pick up the foil from the ends and it comes out really easily. Hopefully that makes sense.....so that's why my pan in lined in any case. I also greased the foil. Bake this at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Once done, remove from oven.

While it was baking, I combined the condensed milk and vanilla in a bowl. It looks kind of nasty in this picture, but don't fear!







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.

While it's baking, melt down those caramel bits! Or snack on some...which is what I did. Shhh don't tell anyone! :)

Oh yeaaaaa....

Then pour your melted caramel over the baked yumminess and sprinkle your chocolate chips over the caramel. Looks tasty right?? Don't eat it yet! I put it, covered, into the refrigerator overnight for it to harden enough to cut. This worked really well! I lifted the sides out and took the foil off. Put the whole thing on a cutting board and cut away! I'm not going to lie...they are pretty awesome. So if you ever need a yummy bar recipe, I hope you will try this one!

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! 

First you mix the first five ingredients (chili powder through salt) setting aside 1 1/2 teaspoons of this mixture. Mix the non set aside spice mix with the pork pieces in a bowl and set aside for the pork to get happy with flavor! 






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! 

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil over medium high heat in a Dutch oven or if you're like me and don't have one (sad day!)...a big pot! Add your pork and cook about five minutes or until browned. Once cooked, remove the pork from the pot and keep warm. Weird how it kind of looks like beef since the spices turned it that color....





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!!! 

"Nope. Don't think so."

OH! PS....also amazing this year...how about my Aggies?!?!?!?! What an amazing year for our football team. Beating #1Alabama...having a Heisman winner. Winning our bowl game (O-WHO?). I've always stood by our team no matter the rankings (or embarrassing losses) because I bleed Maroon and am a true Aggie through and through...but this year was amazing to be an Aggie in all aspects! What a wonderful introduction to the SEC.

...Jeni talk Thai real good....but not really...

Okay, so the title is silly of this blog...but I'll explain. The past two weeks I've made two Thai recipes that I'm going to share with you. They were really good!! However, the whole time I was making them I couldn't help but chuckle to myself because I kept thinking about that scene from Meet the Parents, where Greg (Ben Stiller) is confronting Jack (Robery De Niro) about the conversation Greg overheard in Thai (which is really Jack planning a surprise honeymoon for the bride and groom). And Dina (Blythe Danner--who I love by the way in Will and Grace!) remarks that Jack can't talk Thai, to which Greg replies "Oh no Dina, Jack can talk Thai...Jack talk Thai real well." I love that movie and that scene...so of course the whole time I was cooking I kept laughing to myself. I know I'm silly (read: nerdy!), but I don't care! :) I know I haven't blogged since my Veteran's Day post (which if you haven't read...do so! It's about my favorite Veteran in my life!), but I'm about to grace you with a great post (hopefully) and maybe that will make up for it! On to the recipes...

#1: THAI-STYLE STIR FRIED CHICKEN
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
 
1/4 cup rice vinegar 
2 tablespoons brown sugar 
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 
2 teaspoons red curry paste 
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper 
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces*
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 
1 cup chopped onion 
1 cup chopped carrot 
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms*
1/2 cup light coconut milk 
1 tablespoon fish sauce* 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 cup fresh bean sprouts  
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Added: Snow Peas!!!! Because they are yummy....
*Revisions: For the chicken, I actually bought about a pound or so of chicken tenders. I find that they are easier to cut into chunks. For the mushrooms, I bought an 8 oz package of whole mushrooms and sliced them myself. I find that the pre-sliced are often a bit more expensive than the whole. Just compare and go with what you feel comfortable with! Pre-sliced are fine especially if you don't have time to slice them. The fish sauce, I actually did not use because I forgot to get this at the store. I used Oyster sauce instead since I had it. I don't think it ruined the flavor at all, but of course would have used fish sauce had I not forgotten it! :)

The first thing you want to do is to combine the rice vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, red curry paste, and crushed red pepper in a large zip-lock bag. Add your chicken; seal and marinate in refrigerator for about 15 minutes or so. You can always marinate overnight as well! 

While the chicken was marinating, I chopped up the onion, carrots, and mushrooms. Then washed the bean sprouts and snow peas! I also made extra marinade (as per the reviews and comments!) combining again the rice vinegar, brown sugar, lime juice, red curry paste, and crushed red pepper in a small bowl.

Set aside your veggies, and heat a tablespoon of oil in your pan (or wok if you have one). Add your chicken (reserving the marinade it was in) and cook for about 4 minutes or until done. 

Once the chicken is cooked, remove and cover to keep warm (and to develop the juices). 







Add the remaining oil to your pan, then add your carrots and onions. Stir-fry for about two minutes. 

Then add your mushrooms! Stir-fry for about 3 minutes. 

At this point, I also added the bean sprouts and snow peas. Even though the bean sprouts, according to the original recipe, aren't supposed to be added in until last, I like to cook them in. 

Using the extra marinade I made as well as the reserved marinade from the bag (which there wasn't a lot left over to be honest so I'm glad I made extra and I encouraged you to do the same), pour it over the veggies and scrape up those browned bits/flavor fairies. :) 

Add your coconut milk and fish sauce (or oyster in my case!) and bring everything to a boil. Reduce and simmer for about a minute. Then add your chicken (plus accumulated juices) back into the mix.  





I topped this with the cilantro and served over thin spaghetti (I couldn't decide on what Asian noodles would be best) and of course a salad. The calorie count for about a cup of the chicken mixture is around 271 and boy was it tasty!! It's not spicy at all and reheats pretty well. I enjoyed it because it was really easy to make and the sauce was really creamy and tasted comforting without the calories! Recipe is below! Onto the next...fist bump. Matthew may be the only one who gets that. At the end of Ghost Hunters on the SyFy channel they always say Onto the next at the end of the episode and then fist bump...haha...so we sometimes fist bump. You have to had the explosion at the end or else it isn't a proper fist bump! ;-)

Thai-Style Stir Fried Chicken



#2: THAI COCONUT CURRY SHRIMP 
Serves: 4 

Ingredients: 

1 tsp oil
4 scallions, whites and greens separated, chopped
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 oz light coconut milk
2 tsp fish sauce

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt to taste

Added: surprise! Snow peas. 

First before I go any further, this recipe is from a different website called Skinny Taste! I've been trying to make more recipes from this website. This week in fact everything I'm making comes from it. The recipes are very tasty and full of flavor. I encourage you to look around. Also before we go any further, I have a funny picture. So I'm making dinner which has shrimp...who do you think was excited about it??? Yep...the cats. I'm sitting there cleaning and taking the tails off the shrimp and look up to these two staring at me. They kept inching closer and closer....so I teased them. Silly kitties.

As I said, the first thing I did was clean the shrimp under cold water and remove their tails (gently pinch and twist! you don't want to lose any valuable shrimp yuminess!). I love shrimp.

Next I chopped up my green onions and garlic. I chopped up more than what was called for because I love the flavors of both. :) Remember to separate the whites and the greens of the scallions. I basically chopped all of them in half width wise and then set aside the ALL green scallions and then chopped up the whites/somewhat green parts.



Heat oil on medium high heat in your pan. Once hot, add your scallion whites/somewhat greens and the red curry paste. Saute for about one minute.







Add your garlic and shrimp! I also add the snow peas so they could get all garlicky and yummy too! They were jealous of the shrimp. ;-) Also, side note: notice the awesome gingerbread decor in the kitchen! I love the pot holder there. He makes me smile because he looks like he's saying "Hey! You should give me a hug!" I don't hug him though...so don't think I'm nuts y'all.



Once you've cooked everything for about 2-3 minutes (or until the shrimp are pink and pretty), add your coconut milk and fish sauce...which yes, if you were wondering, I did remember to pick it up at the store this time! :) Simmer everything for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in the scallion greens and cilantro. Easy as that!!!



I served this with jasmine rice and a salad! The calorie count for this yumminess is about 135 calories per serving. Not too shabby in my book! And it was sooooo good! One of the great things about doing these two recipes back to back was the fact that they had similar ingredients. So...buy once...use twice! :)  Here's the link:

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp

What's been going on over here you ask? Many things! It seems like these weeks are going by really fast lately! Matt's plane landed at around 11am on November 12th. Which was awesome! I was so happy to finally see him! And I know he was excited to be home. For Thanksgiving we stayed in Colorado Springs and were really blessed to have gotten an invite over to one of his co-workers homes to join their family for dinner. It was a lot of fun--full of food, football, and fun games with their three girls. I'm fully convinced everyone should play Hedbanz because it was too much fun! :) I know our family missed seeing us, but it was a really nice relaxing day and we really did appreciate the invitation. The day after Thanksgiving was Christmas decoration time. Our tree went up and decorated, the nativity scene went out, all of my gingerbread decor is up, along with other various decorations. I really enjoyed bringing everything out and especially while listening to Christmas music! :) The only thing that hasn't gone up yet are our lights on the house, this is because the whole city of Colorado Springs was sold out of Christmas light hooks. I'm not kidding. We went everywhere! I finally found some at the very last Walgreens I stopped at yesterday. I bought three boxes. I'm sure we will be taking some back, but I just wanted to make sure we had enough because I wasn't going to drive all over the city again! This week we are having a cookie exchange with the Brigade Coffee group I'm a part of. I'm really excited. I love to bake, so any excuse to do so is something that makes me giddy! :) I've narrowed down my cookie choices and hopefully will make a decision...they all sound so good! Perhaps I may just share the recipe with pictures! :) On Friday morning, Matt and I are also participating in the Brigade's "march" to the Marian House. I am really looking forward to it because in the spirit of Christmas it's very humbling to be able to help others!! I can't wait to experience it.

Well as this post is already pretty long, I'll leave y'all with that!! More later...especially after tonight's dish that I'm super excited about. Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

PS: did you notice the new background and falling snow?????? :) :) :) :) 

*~*MY FAVORITE VETERAN*~*

Kind of blurry...but Matt in Iraq!

I wanted to write a special post for Veteran's Day since I have a special veteran in my life!! I didn't know if y'all knew that! ;-)

Before I met Matt I was not really familiar with military life. I supported our military and always thought how amazing they are that they put their lives on the line for us; though sometimes an outsider may not truly know what that means exactly. What they have to go through on a day to day basis. And I'll admit, I was one of them. An outsider looking in with respect, but a lot of confusion and a naivety of our military. 

My paternal grandfather was in the Navy for a time and my maternal grandfather was in the Merchant Marines, but that's about it as far as my family goes and I never really heard them talk about their experiences--except for my Grandpa Lawrence (maternal) and how he lied about his age to get in and got a tattoo...which he hated until the day he passed away. So when I met Matt I was slightly oblivious to what he did and what it meant for him to be in the military. I knew he had gone to Iraq twice; once for the invasion for 6 months and then the second time for 15 months. I knew what he had done over there and knew what he had gone through each time and the danger he was in. It wasn't until I started getting to know him more that I began to develop a huge respect for the sacrifice he (and all military!) have made in their lives. I remember our first date when we sat and talked for close to five and a half hours and I remember asking him all these questions about the war and what he did and what it was like to hear and feel the bombs going off. It just amazed me at how much strength he had to go do that! Because personally I don't think I could. It takes a special person to go do that.

When we were in San Antonio he was in the Recruiting Battalion which wasn't exactly a cohesive environment. It was a different feeling, not being the "real Army" type Battalion. There wasn't a lot of events to go to that made you feel like you had support. Plus I was a girlfriend for most of that...wife for about 7 months...and I wasn't really included in anything (until he put a ring on it!) haha! Then when we moved to Kansas and he was in CGSC, again it was just kind of a laid back situation and not "real Army." It was fun! And I felt more of a solidarity there than San Antonio, but it was just different once again. It wasn't until we got here to Colorado that I started truly understanding and feeling more pride in my Soldier than I had before. It's not that I didn't in San Antonio or Kansas, but it just was different (I'm using that word a lot). He wasn't somewhere where he would be deployed or be gone for training, etc. I hadn't experienced that before. Until now. It just amazes me what the military goes through! Training, missing their family, missing mile stones in their relationships with their children and spouses and yet they still do their job selflessly and while they may complain in private how tired they are or how sore or upset or mad or whatever! They continue to go and do things for this country; even if people don't realize their sacrifice. They do it with pride. And that makes ME have an immense pride for my husband and for everyone who has served or is currently serving in the military. The time apart from Matt has made me realize that I am guilty of taking our time together for granted and it's definitely given me the drive to never take it for granted again. I'm sure we are all guilty of taking time with our friends and family for granted, but I guess I realized it more while we've been apart. In any case, he's coming home Monday and I couldn't be happier and having heard how well they did at NTC....I couldn't be a prouder wife of a (VERY HANDSOME!) Soldier.

So with that, I say Happy Veteran's Day, not only to everyone who I know who has served or is currently serving in our wonderful military, but especially to my favorite Veteran who has shown the true meaning of perseverance, strength, and a love for our great country by serving so we can have the amazing freedom we have today. Thank you Matthew. I love you so very much and can't wait to see you!!!!!



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I also am squeezing in this post, not to take away from Veteran's Day, but just to say a quick Happy Founder's Day to my wonderful sorority, Gamma Phi Beta! Joining the sorority was the best decision I made and I wish sometimes I could go back and re-live those wonderful moments of friendship--good and bad--such as the late night rush practices and voting! When you're dead tired and your feet hurt and your voice is gone and all you want to do is go to sleep and there's arguing! Because in the end it was worth it. Everything! I got to meet such lovely, strong, and CLASSY women and form life long bonds with them! :)

Our Four Founders

So...to all my beautiful Gamma Phi's (especially my Zeta Rho's!), Happy Founder's Day girls! Wear your badge with pride and think back to our great times together!!! In IIKE, Jeni!

In case you want to learn about my sorority:
 Gamma Phi Beta International Sorority

Or my chapter:
Gamma Phi Beta--Zeta Rho, Texas A&M University

An older recipe and an anniversary!

I did this recipe a while back, but it was just so good I couldn't NOT share it with you guys. I had been wanting to do a Southern dish with grits, however Matt doesn't like grits....he calls them GUTS. haha...but this recipe was good regardless! And it was unbelievably easy!

DEEP SOUTH SHRIMP AND SAUSAGE

Serves: 4 :)

Ingredients  
Cooking spray 
3/4 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp 
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning 
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
1 cup chopped tricolor bell pepper (red, green, and yellow)
1 (6.5-ounce) link smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices  
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup water

First thing I did was take the tails off the shrimpies and cut the sausage up.  

I then cut up the bellpepper and garlic. Prepping before cooking is always a good decision. Things go so much faster!! 

Then you heat a pan over medium heat and coat the pan with the cooking spray. Add your shrimp, Bay seasoning, and pepper. Toss to coat and cook about 3 minutes or until the shrimp is cooked. Once done, remove the shrimp and keep it warm. 

Next spray a bit more cooking spray in the pan if needed and add your bell pepper. Cook about two minutes and then add the sausage. Cook for about two minutes until the sausage is nicely browned.

Then add back your shrimp as well as the garlic. Cook about one minute. Add the 1/4 cup water, cooking 30 seconds and scraping the yummy bits at the bottom of the pan. Remember....they are flavor fairies!  

And that's it! Seriously!! It was that easy. I served this with rice and a salad...but as I'm writing, I'm seriously considering making this with grits the next time and rice for Matt. This recipe was so delicious and it's perfect for when you're wanting that down South yumminess! Matt and I both really enjoyed it. The best part? 142 calories per serving!!! Which is about 3/4 of a cup. Here is the recipe for it: Deep South Shrimp and Sausage

This week has so far dragged by for me. Matt is at NTC and I definitely miss him so very much. Today is our 2nd anniversary and he sent me flowers! They were so beautiful. I definitely was not expecting them so when he text to tell me not to be alarmed if someone rang the doorbell I was extremely excited. I had run to the commissary so by the time I had gotten back there they were! They remind me of my wedding bouquet. It had purple in it. I can't believe how fast two years has flown by. And so much has happened too. 

I didn't plan very well for this week of eating for one, so when I went to the store today this is what I came out with. Pretty much screams that I'm the only one who's eating in this house. Well real food and not animal food haha...I am trying desperately to find easy cooking for one recipes. But honestly, as I think about it, when Matt's not here, I don't feel like even cooking. I take so much joy in cooking for him and making him happy. Even when we eat leftovers during the weekend I dislike making the leftovers. I usually throw whatever protein over salad...and I've told Matt this many times, that I make it and then I'm not hungry anymore. It's just not exciting to not cook. So who knows what I'm going to do, since I'll get sick of these for the next however many weeks. But, I'll keep searching. 

I've been focusing on trying to get back up to 5 miles a day for running here. In Kansas I could go for 5+ miles and not even think about it. But here it's a little harder as far as my breathing goes. I really wish I had looked into getting an inhaler. Maybe I still should do it. BUT! I'm making progress, I am up to about 3 straight miles so that's at least a little better. Other than that nothing really has been going on. I'm excited it's fall because I just love the fall. I have some new decorations for Halloween and the fall in general and I just love everything. I am, however, on a continual obsessive treasure hunt for a witch my mom gave me last year. I seriously can not find it. And I just know I'll find it maybe during Christmas or something. I've searched in every box labeled basement. It's so annoying! I hate when I can't find something :) 

A couple of weeks ago I hosted our Brigade Coffee at D'Vine Wine. It went really well. I was nervous because I had never hosted one before at all, but it was just a lot of fun. Lots of laughs. Lots of yummy wine and funny "cheers" to accompany each tasting we had. I really am enjoying being apart of this brigade. The women are amazingly nice and easy to talk to. I know I can count on them for anything even if I have only known them for about 2-3 months. It's just been a great experience so far. D'Vine Wine is a really neat place too. It's in Manitou Springs. They are a very "green" winery and are small, but I haven't had a taste of anything that I didn't like! If you're ever in the area and want to go, I'll go with you! :) Manitou Springs is interesting in itself really. Great people watching. 

While Matt's been gone I've been watching random movies on Netflix. Last night I watched "Revenge of the Bridesmaids." Extremely CHEESY. But one of those movies that you can't stop watching. I have a list of "girly" movies that I am going to delve into while he's gone too. Stuff that he probably would gouge his eyes out if he were watching. :) I have been watching a lot of Frasier and re-watching The Tudors....a little Ghost Whisperer...Grey's. I have decided though that I want a dog like Niles has in Frasier. It cracks me up every time I see it. It's an Italian Greyhound. 

This episode had me rolling too. His bird clamped down on his head and wouldn't get off. So Niles has to entertain during a dinner party with the bird on his head. Ugh...that show is pretty funny to me. I have a lot of great laughs when watching it. :) 

Well I suppose I'll end here. I'll leave you with some pictures from our wedding day! We were married at one of the chapels on Fort Sam Houston. It was really pretty inside and as you'll see there were a lot of flags! Very military :)  My colors were chocolate brown and a light pink (not baby pink!) and cream. I had some great help with making the ceremony and reception flower arrangements. The only real flowers were the bouquets, the boutonnieres, and the cake topper. I had so much fun making a lot of things. The best accomplishment was the "trees" we made. I saw them at a wedding at our church that my dad was helping with the sound and I had to have them. I talked with the florist who did them and they were wanting an ungodly amount for them...so we made them ourselves! During the time it was a pain in the butt at some points...such as transporting them (I have a funny picture of Matt holding onto them in his truck) but they turned out so beautiful and I must say...I loved them! They had hydrangea bunches in pink and maroon, hanging crystals, and hanging candles that were lit during the ceremony. Very pretty!! :) My aunt married us too which was so cool! I know she enjoyed it and it was very special for all of us! :) :) :) 

I hope you enjoy the pictures! And you're welcome for not sharing the 1000s that I do have! :) haha!!!

Happy Anniversary Matthew :) I love you and look forward to many more years of FUN! with you!!!!! 

A non-food related post...

So I know I haven't posted anything for a few weeks now. It's not because I've forgotten, it's just been busy here. I thought a lot about not posting what I'm about to post, but I figured it's best to talk things out in any case. Plus I didn't want to talk about it and then go directly into talking about some recipe or something. So, for now it's just me typing...

Faint-- but there. 3 others were darker

About three or four weeks ago, I made a shocking discovery...I was pregnant. I say shocking because Matt and I were in no way trying. In fact we had a plan. And that plan consisted of trying after he got back from his month long trip to California for NTC. We were content with that plan. So for me to be staring down at a positive pregnancy test was a very surreal moment for me--not to mention it was only the second pregnancy test I had ever taken. The first one was the previous month and that was because I was joking around--it was negative in case you were wondering. Matt was at work of course, so I text him some cryptic message about needing to talk to him. He asked if everything was alright and I told him not really. In my mind, looking back, I know I was being really selfish. There are many women in the world who want so badly to have been in my position and yet I wasn't excited. I wasn't happy. At all. I just wasn't ready. I needed a few more months to mentally prepare myself for all of this and you know what, I think it was okay for me to be thinking that way.

I should have realized the "symptoms" ...except I was sick with a cold or allergies or something the week or so before. Matt was actually out in the field that week that I started not feeling good. I was stuffy, super tired, and couldn't really think about eating food without being sick to my stomach. I couldn't even take a sip of wine with dinner without feeling queasy (yea...I know...not cool!) I could swear to you that this was all because of whatever nastiness I had caught. It wasn't. Obviously. So there I was...stuffy, sick, and starting at a positive test. Hmm.

That weekend Matt and I went and bought the What to Expect book. Naturally. And I began furiously educating myself on this whole situation. I started thinking back to our trip to Breckenridge. Matt and I had drank champagne...we had sat in the hot tub which I'm pretty sure was really hot. I had been working out furiously to try to sweat out whatever sickness I had. I know my heart rate at the max had reached above the recommended 140 when you're pregnant...but I later read that there's the theory that every woman is different and that it's okay to go over as long as you aren't breathless and to listen to your body. Okay. So I guess I was good on that part. Plus I've been working out hardcore for a year and a half. My body is used to these strenuous workouts. Then I started obsessing with the foods I was eating and then oh no, I had cleaned the litter box (although I now know through research that I probably am already immune to that toxic stuff that kitties have...I'd be surprised if I wasn't honestly...if you truly know me, you know how many cats I've been around in my life...). All of these things were racing through my head. I'm pretty sure if you looked at my Google history on my computer those following days after the big positive you'd see a lot of pregnancy forums and hundreds of searches. In the end, I feel confident in saying that I am now the most researched out person on the planet. I know everything. I even surprised the Doctors with what I knew. Yea. I know. I'm pretty awesome. So, Matt and I went about our business through the weeks. I was continually tired, but I worked out as much as I could. I stopped going twice a day though. Something about taking 3-4 hour naps during the day because you are so exhausted from even getting out of bed. Definitely missed some classes. Oh well! Matt and I rented a bunch of different movies...I finally saw Austin Powers. haha...after how many years??? Anyway...where am I going with this you may be wondering??

Well on Saturday, September 22nd,  I miscarried. I won't go into any details (do you see why I didn't want to include a recipe after this!). But the very minimum details included some cramping starting on that Thursday. It wasn't bad. Although it was more painful than what I had been having which I knew THOSE type of cramps were normal with early pregnancy. Saturday, however, it was a little more involved and I knew I needed to go to the ER after having called the DR. on Thursday and I was told if it got worse to go in. But then it wasn't hurting anymore. I told Matt we weren't going. So naturally I took a shower (not really naturally but it was something to do); he mowed the yard (I think he was frustrated with my indecisiveness and so I left him alone!) . Then I took a nap with the thought in my mind that I needed to wake up at 3:30 so we could get ready to go watch the A&M game at Rudy's with the Alumni club. THEN I woke up to severe cramping. Worse than the dreaded cramping all women excitedly experience month to month (yea, right). And I knew. I knew I had miscarried at that moment. Again, not going to go into it. For your sake. You're welcome. I just knew. So, I told Matt we needed to go to the ER. For real. We got there at 4:00pm, I was taken back at 4:05pm and from there met with an ER doctor and a bunch of different nurses. Had an IV put in. Was examined. Blood drawn (6 viles!) and of course I hadn't eaten anything at all, soooo I started to feel sweaty and clammy and like I was going to pass out. On top of cramping. Such an exciting time. They did give me Tylenol. Which helped a little. I go for the Advil (but you can't HAVE Advil if you're pregnant), it works so much better for me though personally. Then I was wheeled (I'm 100% sure I could have walked just fine!) into the ultrasound room. And had one of those. I tried to peek, since it was my first ultrasound, but honestly I couldn't see anything. Matt really had a better view and said he saw several pockets which could have been the baby....or several babies?!?! lol yikes! You never really know what you're looking at anyways! But nevertheless the tech made no mention one way or the other. The pictures were then analyzed by the xray people and within five minutes they had the answer. BUT no one would tell me. Anything! I think that's the most frustrating thing about all this. I know the Doctors may not say what they are really thinking because of liability and the possibility of getting sued if let's say they told me I was having a miscarriage and then I went in for more blood work or something and in fact I was still pregnant. I get it. But when the Doctor brought back paperwork from my blood showing me that my hcg levels (the pregnancy hormone) were at 46 and they should have been around 100,000 at the most. I'm not stupid. He tried to tell me that maybe I was within the first week of pregnancy and would need more blood work to see if my levels were doubling like they should. I asked him what the ultrasound showed. His response: Nothing. Nothing? And you're trying to tell me that with ALLLLL of these symptoms I'm having: low hcg levels and NOTHING on the ultrasound...oh and I know for a fact when my LMP (sorry any boys who are reading this...LMP you ask? Google it.) was since I chart it religiously...which should put me at 6 weeks...you're telling me I may be within the first week of pregnancy???...oh okay. Right. So we were released around 9:00pm with information on a Doctor to go to for testing on that coming Tuesday. Tuesday came. Hcg levels: 17. That doctor was interesting. He was naturally impressed with my knowledge that I threw at him and you know what he at least told me the truth which was the numbers weren't pointing towards anything good. Thank you Mr. Doctor for being truthful!  My actual Doctor called that afternoon (she's an Aggie!) and they wanted me to come in to THEM on Friday for MORE blood to make sure my levels got down to 0. So Friday came...more needles, more bruises. Levels: 2. Over the weekend I'm 1000000000000% sure my levels reached 0. Again, not going to go into HOW I know...I just do. Remember? Because I'm awesome?? But I am going in again this Thursday for yet more blood (I'm starting to think vampires are living in the back areas of these places!??!). That's okay though, it'll give my arm time to heal. My right arm from the IV looked hideous! During biceps in body pump I kept looking at it in the mirror and hoping that nobody thought I was doing drugs or something--since I totally look like a druggie and all. But it's much better now!!

And so am I.

I know that I wasn't mentally prepared, but I was trying my best to get there. It was just a little different than what we had been planning, but that was okay. Saturday I was a complete mess. It's a scary situation to go through. Whether you were planning the pregnancy or not. I'm just truthfully happy it happened EARLY in the pregnancy rather than later on. And really, after it all happened I would be lying if I told you I wasn't sad. And that I felt guilty from not wanting it to even be there at first. I know I didn't WILL it out of me, but I still felt guilty like maybe it knew. Somehow. Silly thoughts! But in any case, I know some people will say oh well you were only 6 weeks along. This is true. But it's still a loss. Somewhat. A very small loss. But a loss.

So here we are. I definitely appreciated all the support from those who knew what was going on and especially to my Matt who held my hand through it all...he didn't leave my side once even though he gets wiggly with hospital/medical topics/stuff. I definitely am not writing this to receive pity or any extra attention. If you know me well enough you know I don't really like having attention called to myself. Just sharing an experience that I feel made me stronger and made Matt and I especially stronger as a couple. And I'm sharing it because it's good to share things and get them off your chest. And honestly, I feel much better now. So I appreciate you taking the time to read this and sorry if it was too personal or too much information...but I figured if you're reading this, you most likely care about me enough to read it. :) So thanks!

Anyway, I'll do a foodie type post this week as well..I just wanted to get this out. And after such a serious post, I will leave you with a couple of funny pictures for the heck of it (even though some of you may have already seen these on Facebook....they amuse me)! Enjoy.

MuMu in a blizzard

Me...because I know you love me

Shorts and sandals...jacket and beanie. Classic combo!!

My Matt Matt <3