Sunshine and the Gym.

It's been nice lately.  Well, not today...today it is raining straight puddles and very dreary.  But, generally it has been nice.  Which means that going to the gym has been painfully hard.  Add to that - we are building a deck on the back of our home and it is taking a lot of time and energy...so do you think I have made it to the club 3x a week like I had been? HA.  No.  I have been 1x each week for the last 2 weeks.  Trying to get better about that, but the damn sunshine just makes me want to drink beer and eat nachos on a patio in Old Town.  However, Monday I had a new break through in the running arena.  I ran 1/3 of a mile at a 7:35 mi/min pace.  That was a record.  But the REAL record was the fact that I didn't stop at 1/3 of a mile becuase I was dying; I stopped because I thought I should.  This mental thing seems to be more of a hurdle than my physical ability.  Turns out, I could be a "runner" after all...short legs and everything.  So...here is to hoping that I can keep it up...and do so more than 1x a week through the dog days of summer.

MOTIVATION. 

Latest Faves in The Kitchen!

I used to LOVE to cook.  Now, it is more like a chore most days.  I like to eat...so I need to learn to love to cook again.  Avoiding eating out is pretty important to me these days...and so far, well, I suck.

So this last week I made a few things that were new...and they were a success!





First off, I made honey glazed chicken.  This is a crockpot deal, which ROCKS.  Put it on about lunchtime and it was ready in 4.5 hours for dinner.  All I did was add some potatoes and corn side dishes and dinner was served.  Chicken fell apart when you stuck a fork in it and the flavor was oh, so good.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/8 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup bbq sauce
3 chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Pepper & Salt

Directions:

Place the chicken in the crockpot. Stir the remaining ingredients together in a bowl, then pour over the chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4-6 hours.

For freezing: Place all ingredients int a 1-gallon freezer bag. Lay flat in freezer. To thaw: Take the bag out of the freezer the night before, making sure the frezer bag is completely sealed. Dump contents in the crockpot and follow the directions above. 

Thanks to http://stephaniecooks.blogspot.com/  for this one! 

Next up was the oven "fried" pork chops.  These came straight out of the cookbook my mama gave me when I was 19 and moved into my 1st apartment.  

The process was simple, the ingredients I actually had in the cupboard and I had just thawed pork chops.  So it all seemed to work out well :)  I don't even like pork a whole lot....but these were very good!  And only took about 30min.  (I used fatty chops, so it was a little longer to cook than the recipe stated)  And...I halved this recipe and it worked out really well. 

Ingredients

1    egg
2  tablespoons  fat-free milk
1  cup  packaged corn bread stuffing mix
4    pork loin chops, cut 1/2 inch thick (1 to 1-1/2 pounds total)
2 tablespoons melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Meanwhile, in a shallow dish, beat egg with a fork; stir in milk. Place dry stuffing mix in another shallow dish. Trim fat from chops. Dip pork chops into egg mixture. Coat both sides with stuffing mix.

 3. Melt butter and pour into the baking pan, coating pan.

4. Arrange pork chops in a single layer in one side of a 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

5. Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes or until pork is done (160 degrees F), turning pork once at 10-12 min. 

I also had to switch it up a bit for breakfast...so I went with a spinach quiche.  It wasn't as easy to make (although still, pretty simple!) and it took a little while longer, but the results were well worth it!! 

Ingredients

1  recipe  Pastry for Single-Crust Pie
1/2  cup  chopped onion (1 medium)
6  slices  bacon, chopped
8    beaten eggs
1/2  cup  dairy sour cream
1/2  cup  half-and-half, light cream, or milk
1/4  teaspoon  salt
1/8  teaspoon  ground white pepper
    Dash ground nutmeg (optional)
3  cups  lightly packed chopped fresh spinach
2/3  cup  shredded mozzarella cheese (about 3 ounces)
1/2  cup  shredded Swiss cheese (2 ounces)
    Cherry tomatoes, cut up (optional)

Directions

1. Prepare and roll out Pastry for Single-Crust Pie. Line a 9-inch pie plate with the pastry. Trim; crimp edges as desired. Line the unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of foil. Bake in a 450 degree F oven for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes more or until pastry is set and dry. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook onion and bacon until onion is tender and bacon is crisp. Drain on paper towels.

3. In a bowl stir together eggs, sour cream, half-and-half, salt, pepper, and, if desired, nutmeg. Stir in onion mixture, spinach, and cheeses.

4. Pour egg mixture into the hot, baked pastry shell. Bake in the 325 degree F overn for 45 to 50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. If necessary, cover edge of crust with foil to prevent overbrowning. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. If desired, garnish with cherry tomatoes.

5. Makes 6 to 8 servings

6. Spinach Quiche: Prepare as above, except omit the bacon. Cook the onion in 1 tablespoon butter or margarine. Stir into egg mixture with spinach and cheeses.

HAPPY COOKING.

Calling all Twilight Lovers!

So I ran across this book called "Wings"... it got a good review from Stephanie Meyer (author of Twilight Series), and it was FREE for my kindle...so I was sold.  I read it in a day, it was just about as good as Twilight!  Totally fed into my need for high school paranormal romances :) So, for all ya'll that openly admit to their love for Edward and Jacob...read, read.  Meet David (a lowly human, although a cute geek-type) and Tamani (a hot ass Faerie).

This book with take you on an adventure back to the awkward days of high school, through the land of Avalon where the fae reside and into the woods with some disgustingly wrong trolls.  Enjoy :)

Find the book here!

Oh, and this is the first of 4 books...again, like Twilight.  The 3rd just came out yesterday...and I have already read it :)  So......now I have to wait for a year until the final book comes out.  (Wings, Spells, Illusions ... read 'em!)

HOME.

I bought a house. 

And with a lot of elbow grease, a little bit of money and some great friends....it became a home.

A barren room became the place I lay my head each night. 

To dream.  

Empty rooms

Became guest rooms for the ones I love. 

To bathrooms that made me cringe...

Turning into ones that I actually like to get clean in. 

And the kitchen.... which left a LOT to be desired.

 Somehow became a kitchen that feels like home. 

I don't even mind doing the dishes.

 Well, not really....but it is more pleasant. 

                                                                          Little things I've picked up along the way add the finishing touches.

 Gone are the cold white walls.  For my favorite blues with splashes of bright colors

HOME.

LOVE.