Meal Planning [2]

Second week of meal planning!

Monday: PW's Cajun Chicken Pasta

Tuesday: Mexican Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad

Wednesday: Grilled Chicken Salad

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Thai Coconut Chicken Soup [ we had this at a wedding this weekend and it was soo good!]

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: We usually eat out for lunch after church, which usually takes care of dinner as well

While at the Grand Canyon at the beginning of the month, we stopped in one of the little stores and I found a rack of cook books that were all Southwest cooking. Yum! So my souvenir was this one:

I've been trying a recipe from the book each week. Last weeks was Spicy Chicken Joes and they turned out pretty darn good, so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Spicy Chicken Joes:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 Yellow onions, chopped

4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped

olive oil

1- 8oz can tomato paste

1- 16oz can tomato sauce

2- chipotles in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped [not nearly spicey enough for us- if you're not into spicy start with one pepper]

1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1/2 cup packed brown sugar [ I would take this down to 1/4 cup, it was a little too sweet]

1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt

Rolls

Cilantro for garnish if you like

Heat oil in pan. Brown chicken, onions and garlic [I drained off the water that the onions and chicken produced]. In separate bowl mix next 7 ingredients. Place chicken/onion/garlic mixture in crock pot and pour the sauce mixture over it. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or until chicken is cooked through. Shred chicken with forks and serve on rolls of your choice. Garnish with cilantro [Mike had cheese on his] and PLEASE serve with tator tots :)

I heart clearance

Especially Old Navy clearance. Not because I'm obsessed with their clothes (it's usually hit or miss for me), but because their clearance racks are insanely cheap. The other day I got an email saying their clearance was marked down even more so during lunch I headed over to the store. Yeah, the clearance was an extra 50% off. Score! And it was the first day of the sale so they had a lot and in every size. So here is what I picked up.

Dress = $4

 Dress = $4 (looked a little frumpy on so I added a belt, adorable)

Tank = $1.99

Tank = $.98

I also got a pair of dark skinny jeans for $7!

My total was $20. I figured there was no way the husband could be mad for me spending money on clothes when I got such a great deal :) I was right.

Now I'm ready for Spring so I can wear everything haha! But it is going to be in the 60s this weekend! Praise the Lord! [I.hate.winter.]

Score any good deals lately?

Bruschetta Salad

While we were in Arizona we ate like kings [and queens]. Leah is a great cook and we probably gained 5lbs that week, but that's what vacation is for right? One night she made this salad and it's delish! It's all her, so I can't take credit. I didn't take pictures and this recipe isn't exact because really you just throw it all together. I just grabbed pictures from google for people who are visual learners :)

Bruschetta Salad:

Grape tomatoes cut in half - about a cup

Fresh Mozzerella cubed, about the same size as the tomatoes - 1/2 cup or more if you really like cheese :)

Fresh basil chopped - about 4 or 5 leaves

One or two cloves of garlic chopped - depending on how much you like garlic

Half cup or so of croutons - I used texas toast croutons

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Mix all ingredients together and let sit for a few minutes to let all the flavors mix, but not too long so that the croutons get soggy, blech! There ya go- it's super easy and so good!

Sisters

This past weekend my sister Heather and her husband Dustin were in town from California. We haven't since them since May so it was really fun to have them around. I have another sister, Ashley who is the oldest, then Heather and I'm the baby. My sisters are the best! We get along so well and always have the best time acting crazy together while our husbands stand off to the side and give us weird looks. Holidays are always a little crazy when we're all together and I think we make our Mama nervous haha! At least my poor Dad now has some guys around to escape the madness with. I love having sisters!

Ashley's wedding 2006

 My wedding 2008

Heather's wedding 2009 [with my mom]

[my poor parents paid for 3 weddings in 3 years]

Ash gave us this necklace this weekend and I love it, so true!

Meal Planning [1]

Keeping with my goals for 2011, I figured I'd just post my meal plan for the week on here to keep myself accountable and so I can remember what I cook from week to week.

Monday: Burgers and bruschetta salad [so good and easy! I'll post the recipe soon]
Tuesday:Spicy Chicken Joes [from my new slow cooker cookbook] and tator tots. "Give me some of your tots!"
Wednesday: Tilapia, balsamic thyme roasted tomatoes and mushrooms, and brown rice
Thursday: We're going out to dinner with our small group
Friday: leftovers
Saturday: We have a wedding to go to
Sunday: leftovers or something random we have

My grocery list was so short this week, it was nice. I try to meal plan around food we already have so I didn't need to buy a lot this week. Happy eating :)

2011

Somehow January has flown by, but really when does time not fly? I've been thinking about some goals [not so much resolutions] for 2011 so I figured I'd throw 'em out there and maybe that will help keep me accountable. I don't usually do this, but lately I have been thinking a lot about how fast my twenties are going and I don't want to look back and think "what did do with that time?". You could say I'm having a little quarter life crisis- I turn 25 in a month from tomorrow eek! Haha. I know, I know that's still very young, but that also means I'm closing in on 30! Anyway here are a few goals for the next year...

1. Run a marathon

I have wanted to run a marathon since my senior year of high school when I ran cross country and my first half. And then I got lazy. I ran on and off through college and the same since. I ran a half in October 2009, but then had surgery again a few months after that. I got back in to working out and running a little and then this fall got mono. What the heck?! So I'm done with the excuses and I'm gonna do it. I think I need to register for a race so I have more motivation ha!

2. Meal plan: this works out great when I actually do it. It saves us money and me a lot time. I work full-time and my commute is at least an hour so when I get home it's nice to know that I already have everything to make dinner. Plus, I don't have the excuse of "I don't feel like cooking I'll just pick something up" which saves us money.

3. Send out birthday cards [on time]: I love sending out cards, but I'm so bad at it! And I've already failed at January, so I need to get in gear for the rest of the year. Vicky [Adventures in Domestication] has the same goal so we can help keep each other on track :)

4. Read more: I love to read, but I never do anymore. I don't really know why- I guess it's easier to veg out watching tv? Also with this, I want to be more diligent in reading my Bible. Currently I am reading Crazy Love - our small group is going through this book and it's really good.

I'm going to read HP7 again first, but I need book suggestions please!

5. Get and stay organized: All of my goals lead to one thing- organization. I need to use my time better in the evenings and on the weekends to get all of this done. Maybe I need a planner? I still have my planner from my senior year of college and sometimes I look at it to remind myself when I think I'm busy, I will probably not have that much on my plate until I have kids haha! I had 5 classes, I was a resident assistant [full-time, all the time with crazy college kids for 3 yrs], I interned/worked for a radio station [office hours plus events at night or on the weekends], I served at a restaurant, and I had a fiancé stationed on the other side of the world [14 hours ahead of my time]. Oh and I started planning our wedding.

Needless to say I think I can handle of all this :) Better get started!

Vacation

Thankfully the 'winter storm' here in Georgia is allowing me to work from home again today so I actually have time to post.

Back in the fall we decided to meet up with some friends over the winter break. These are friends that Mike was stationed with Okinawa and we hadn't seen them in a year or two. One of the couples lives in Arizona and we decided to head there since it would probably be the warmest [compared to Georgia, Ohio, and Albuquerque]. We left two days after Christmas and we spent a week there. Much to our surprise we got about 10 inches of snow dumped on us the 2nd day we were there [3 weeks prior it was in the 70s and 80s]. Joy. Oh well, it was pretty and probably the most snow we'd ever seen. We played in it some and attempted to sled with a card board box haha! Here are a few pics:

Nice view from their driveway

We hung around the house mostly and played games, ate delish food and relaxed. We had plans of camping a few days while we were there but decided we liked the warm house instead. We ventured into town on New Years Eve [they live in a pretty small town]. It was -1 degree. Yeah... We found a bar/saloon and they had a live band so that was pretty fun.

NYE: Mike and I

NYE: Luis, Mike, Keith, Cody and I. [Luis' wife Leah did not venture out with us that night]

The one thing we were all determined to do was go see the Grand Canyon. Leah and I had been before, but we hadn't seen it with snow. So at the end of the week we all piled in a car and made the drive up there. It was less than a 2 hour drive so not bad! We took a ton of pics and it was beautiful with snow. It was still freezing that day, but it didn't stop us from driving to a bunch of different look out points to find amazing views.

The boys. I mean men.

Us. [First time I've ever seen my husband with facial hair haha]

The snow was about a foot deep where we were standing.

Another thing we all wanted to do was go shooting. I am the only was who isn't a Marine so you can understand their love of guns. Leah's dad has quite the arsenal so we were able to borrow a few from him. Mike brought his Glock and Leah has an SKS [? A huge rifle]. In Arizona you can pretty much shoot wherever as long as its federal property, which is apparently almost every where. We drove out of town a few miles and pulled off the road and there were places that were already set up and used for target shooting. Once again it was freezing, but we all had a lot of fun.

We had a great trip even though the weather wasn't what we expected haha. Now we're back in Atlanta and we get hit with more snow/ice... oh well. [I'm ready for spring!]

Long time no post

Worst blogger award goes to me, ha! I read plenty of blogs, but honestly I just haven't had the time to keep up with mine. December was pretty insane between working late most days, our weekends being jam packed, and of course Christmas. I was pretty stressed, but I made sure to enjoy the holidays and every thing we had going on. Monday after Christmas we left to go on vacation [which I'll post about later] and we got back on Tuesday night. I'll probably recap December [mainly for my own memory], our vacation, and my New Years goals - a little late, but better than never.

In the meantime check out Sheila's blog and her giveaway!