It's March already????

I love this picture of Tiggie

I feel like I'm constantly apologizing for not keeping up more with this blog. I've been so busy lately with so many different (FUN!) things... it's crazy!

About mid-January I took over the Brigade FRG Leader position. I have not had the opportunity yet to be an FRG leader and I was excited to experience this. So far it's been wonderful! Lots of meetings. Lots of learning. But seriously lots of fun! I have a wonderful co-leader and together we are changing the world! :) Well...maybe just the FRG. But that's still a great accomplishment! I've loved meeting new people during my short time as leader already and I know it's only going to get better.

It's been snowing a lot here lately which I was excited about. Last year in Leavenworth, we kept hearing about how much snow they had gotten the year before and how they were snowed in for days, etc. So when we had...oh, maybe two okay snows, I was slightly disappointed. And then this year, of course, they have gotten a ton of snow. I was beginning to think it was because of me. I like the snow here though because it melts fairly quickly. But the absolute best is when it's snowy and you look out towards the mountains, it's just breathtaking. 

So I was super excited to share a craft that I did for my BFF Steph Steph for her birthday/Valentine's Day...but I couldn't share until she got it! It would ruin the surprise! Now I can though! Yay! Ready? Boom. BFF Mugs. Yea. Pretty snazzy, right? I initially was going to do Texas and Georgia (since Colorado is a really boring looking state...sorry..and GA is her home state! So I thought I'd do my home state), but Matt talked me into doing the states that she and I were in at the moment. I did feel bad sending her a square state mug, but it's not totally square. Only slightly.

This was a pretty easy project. I printed out the states and made sure they fit nicely onto the mugs. I then located the cities where we were located for the hearts (yay for being a Geography minor haha)!

I used double sided tape to tape the image down to the mug. I initially used eyeliner to trace around the image, so I could smudge it away if I made a mistake. But I don't think I'd do that again. It clumped in some areas which caused frustration. :)

After the image was traced, I removed the paper and filled it in thicker with my Sharpie.

...and drew the line a little thicker. Then my OCD kicked in and I had to make myself stop and put the Sharpie down. But I had to pick up the red Sharpie and draw the hearts...where I proceeded to make sure that they were as dark as possible. :) It never ends.

And even though they are not geographically correct, I drew some connecting lines to our cities! We will just say the line went westward across the Pacific and all the way through Asia then Europe then back across the pond (and down a bit) to Georgia. It was a long trip, but worth it! :)




The back looked sad, so I wrote this cute little saying on it. Then I wrote our names on the handle. And finally it was time for the oven!






Don't stare too hard in case my oven is dirty. The house is about to get a huge spring cleaning (and yes Matthew, I am asking for your help). Just focus on the mugs...sitting pretty in the oven. I baked them for about 45 minutes in a 325/350 degree oven to seal in the Sharpie. Of course they need to be hand washed, but if they happen to make it into the dish washer, the process is so easy I can do it over again! Pretty neat, huh? I like the white, but I am also curious about doing colored mugs!!

Want a recipe that's awesome?? Good. I'm about to tell you. I was SO EXCITED to share this recipe that I forgot to put it on my blog. Haha...just kidding. I got busy. But better late than never!!! On Tuesday nights now, since I have class, I've been trying to make sure that I choose either a crock pot recipe or a casserole. Something easy for Matt to just heat up and eat. He works so hard during the day and I think he deserves to come home and not have to deal with making anything. That way he can get to his Call of Duty game faster! ;-) So in my quest to make one meatless dinner a week, I came across this little gem....

SPINACH AND RICOTTA STUFFED SHELLS
Serves 6 (hello leftovers)

Ingredients:  

2 cups marinara *
Cooking spray 
2 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese 
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese 
1/2 teaspoon onion powder 
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry 
1 large egg yolk 
1 garlic clove, minced  
24 cooked jumbo pasta shells *

Notes: I used our favorite store bought pasta sauce instead of the marinara sauce suggested. I also did not count out 24 pasta shells. I used the box. Maybe there were 24...maybe not? :) 

Preheat that oven to 350. 

Cook your pasta shells! And beware the shell. Some of them were hiding within each other from me. I'm not scary. So I don't see the problem. 

While the shells were boiling, I threw together the super easy filling! It's the ricotta, Parm, onion powder, dried oregano, salt, pepper, thawed (and drained) chopped spinach {I used the Green Giant one...where you just nuke it for 6 minutes in the microwave and then drain it}, egg yolk, and GARLIC! I'm a little confused because this picture kind of looks like there's parsley in there instead of spinach. I know I used spinach...I can not, however, be certain that I may have added some parsley. Can't hurt! As you can see I used my little hand held mixer to mix everything together! 

Then...the best part. Filling the shells! How can this be fun, you ask? Because look what I used! I know I have pastry bags somewhere, but I couldn't think WHERE so I used a gallon zip lock bag, cut off a bit at the tip there and squeezed the filling into the shells. 

I timed myself, for your benefit of course. Because the directions on the site say to spoon about 2 tablespoons of the mixer into each shell. Do you know how long that would take?? I don't either...because I didn't do it. It took me....3 minutes. No joke. I wasn't even rushing. I was taking my time. So, if you make this...the squeezy method is the way to go! :) 


I then poured the sauce over the shells...added some cheese on top. Popped it in the oven and let it bake for 30 minutes. 

Finished product. Um...hello. How could you not want to eat that? And at 329 calories a serving (which by the way is 4 stuffed shells and they most certainly fill you up), what could be better?? I did not get to eat them on Tuesday night because of class (I have yet to figure that out as far as dinner on Tuesdays for myself. So far it's been an apple and crackers...), BUT when we had leftovers during the weekend talk about YUM! Definitely saving this recipe and making it again!! 
 
Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

What other things have we had for dinner lately? Here's a little list: 

Pineapple Teriyaki Salmon
Quick Pastitsio
Chicken Bruschetta  
Chicken Orzo Skillet Dinner 
Smoked Sausage Cassoulet (this is awesome and HAS BACON!) 


And lastly, because this recipe was amazing and got rave reviews from Matt, I would like to share it with you as well!

CAJUN CHICKEN PASTA...ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
Serves 6 (it says 5..but I think it could definitely serve 6)

Ingredients:

8 ounces uncooked linguine
1 pound chicken breast strips
1-2 tsp Cajun seasoning (or to taste) *
garlic powder to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced*
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cup fat free low sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup skim milk
1 tbsp flour
3 tbsp light cream cheese
fresh cracked pepper
2 scallions, chopped
salt to taste
cooking spray

Notes: I used Creole seasoning. Partly because that's what I had and after hearing Matt go on and on about it, I would use it again. It says to taste. Which means you could have no clue how much you put on the chicken (which is my case) or you can follow the directions. All I know is that it wasn't really spicy. It was kind of a hint of spice after I was done cooking it. And I may or may not have put a pound of the seasoning on there. :) Also, I used a green bell pepper instead of yellow. I don't like bland colors. I wanted to have that pop of color that the green bell pepper could give me. It's preference!

Once the chopping of all the veggies is done, the dish comes together super fast. I know I say that a lot, but it's true. The chopping is time consuming sometimes.  So here are all the veggies chopped! :) I think they look pretty.

The next is to make a "slurry." I'm not sure of this terminology, but basically you take your cream cheese, milk, and flour and using a hand mixer, blend everything together until smooth! Set that aside.

Season your chicken! With however much (or little) you want! I actually used garlic salt and the Creole seasoning since I currently do not have garlic powder. But you need salt anyways! So I just omitted the salt from the seasoning of the chicken.





Start cooking your pasta and while you wait, heat a skillet on medium high heat. Spray with your cooking spray and add your chicken. Cook for about 6-8 minutes or until done. When your chicken is done, take it out of the skillet and set it aside. I made it a little cozy tent with foil to keep warm. Then add your olive oil to the skillet and saute your veggies starting with the garlic, bell peppers, and onion...until tender.


Then add your mushrooms and tomatoes and saute everything until tender. Add 1/4 tsp salt (or a few shake of garlic salt in my case), garlic powder (once again...I used garlic salt instead of salt and garlic powder), and your cracked pepper. Reduce the heat to medium low and add your chicken broth along with your "slurry" and stir continuously for 2 minutes. It should thicken up! Add your chicken back in and cook together for a few more minutes.

Combine your linguine and veggies/chicken/yummy sauce. I put it in a 13x9 pan because all of it would not fit in my skillet without making a huge mess. Top with the green onions and serve!!! Total calories per serving is 323.8 and you get a cup and a half to eat! Which was quite a bit for me to eat. Super tasty and creamy!! I encourage you to try it for real!!!

Cajun Chicken Pasta on the Lighter Side


Okay, well I think I've done enough damage on this post for you. I hope you enjoyed yourself and my goal is to have more than one post a month haha!! I expect you to hold me to that! :)

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!! I hope your day went well and you were showered with LOVE! I wanted to share what I did for the day for my Matthew! I had a lot of fun coming up with stuff I wanted to do and the dinner I wanted to make him.  I thought about it a long time...and actually came up with the idea in December. I decided I was going to make him homemade ravioli!! So this is how I did it :)


I have become the somewhat official dough maker for our family Pierogi recipe. We make them each year now around New Years. They are amazing and I love them. They are, after all, like raviolis! And they have bacon. Yummy!! Anyway, so I decided since I know the feeling of this dough and how to make it without messing it up, that I'd used that recipe for the dough. And I did it exactly like my grandma would. Without any bowls or anything and all by hand!! It's a simple dough recipe with flour, eggs, water, oil, etc. It gets a little messy...but it's all worth it in the end! Especially when you see the results and say to yourself, "I did that!"

See....messy!! You knead the dough until it's soft and elastic. And then you take a bowl, run hot water in it, dry it off and set it inverted over the dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes!

PS Some Raider Brigade pride there behind the bowl. :) I used the 30 minutes to clean up the counter and to make the filling for the ravioli. It was to be a 4 cheese, but it turned into a 6 cheese because I used a 5 cheese blend. Awesome, right?? More cheese the better!

The filling consists of ricotta (~1/2 cup) and then I used, like I said, the 5 cheese blend from Kraft which has Parmesan among the cheeses. Super tasty! :) 1 1/2 cups of that. There is also pepper and salt, along with basil, oregano, and parsley--all dried and finally yummy GARLIC!

Once the dough was ready, I halved it--setting once half under the bowl again. I rolled out the dough to the consistency I wanted...and here's the fun part! I used a HEART shaped cutter. Oh yea. Heart shaped. You just cut them out and roll out the dough again until you get enough out of it. I believe the first half brought out about 18 hearts and the second, about 20. Not bad really!! So all in all, about 16 raviolis total since you put them together.

For each ravioli, I put about 2 teaspoons of filling.

Then took water and with my finger spread it around the edges of the dough. Finally laying the other heart on top and pinched the edges to seal it.

Boom. Heart shaped ravioli. :)

When it was time for dinner, I cooked them in boiling water until they started to float up to the top. Which was about 5-8 minutes give or take a few. Pretty pretty!!!

They were super tasty and worth it!! I served it with salad and of course some pasta sauce that had meat in it. I don't know the calorie count and honestly...I don't care! It was Valentine's Day!! :) We had some champagne and it was lovely!



 

For surprises, I created two cards for Matt along with a Heart Attack box (full of hearts cut out of red and pink construction paper with reason why I love him written on them) and I also made brownies for him! Which were delicious and decadent! And super easy! Using a store bought brownie mix, prepare the mix as directed.

I used an 8x8 pan. Pouring the mix into it after making sure you spray it with cooking spray. You then mix together an egg, 1/3 cup of sugar and 8 oz of cream cheese. Take this mix and dollop it onto the brownie batter. Grab a knife and swirl it into the mix.





Then taking about a 1/2 cup of raspberry jelly, whip it until it's a little thinner. Dollop this onto the mixture and using the same technique with a clean knife, swirl it as well. Bake it according to the package directions. For me, it was 38 minutes or so. It ended up being a bit more though (high altitude problems!) and I believe it was about 50 minutes in the end.

Yummy!!! Baked and delicious!

Here are the two cards I made for Matt (I also bought him a nice one).

And the Heart Attack box....which I made from a feminine pad box...HAHA!!! I covered it up though...you're welcome Matthew.  I hid the cards and the box in his truck and he found them throughout his day.

I have also been busy with another project this past week, but I can't share yet because it'll ruin the surprise!!!! :) I wish I could because I'm super excited about it!!!

Here are the two recipe links if you're interested:

Four Cheese Ravioli

Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies

I hope your Valentine's was great like mine and that you enjoyed seeing what I did! I will post more later, but it's pretty late and I think it's time for some sleep!!! Until next time! :)

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.