So over adulthood

The next few months will be especially tight as I try to be extra aggressive with paying my credit cards. It'll be good for me in the long run but I wish I hadn't fallen so far behind in the first place. I should have 2 of them paid off in 2 months and 1 that we have a plan to have paid off someday.

Ugh. So not fun to think about and worry about, but it must be done

New clothes, dinner... this and that

The dinner adventure continues....

Holidays were spent at relatives eating delicious home cooked items like swedish meatballs, ham, salad, cookies, cornish game hens on a rice mixture, cheesy potatoes.... It was 2 more days of gluttony.

Recipes I'm proud to have made:

Lemon Dill Green Beans from the internet
    I give it 3/5 spoons. It's easy and refreshing, but just a bit too tart. Maybe adding garlic and lessening the lemon juice would make it more appealing for me. I would also use the whole mustard instead of the ground mustard I used.

Red Velvet cake with green cream cheese frosting (Christmas cake!) from the internet
    I give it 4/5 spoons for ease of recipe and overall taste. It took about 3-6 minutes longer per cake than expected but not a bad recipe to make from scratch.

Sugar Cookies (non-roll out cookies) from my mom

Today's dinner: My go to meal of rice a roni and pork with cheese skillet meal.
I used broccoli au gratin rice a roni and browned the pork with shallots and Mrs. Dash in olive oil.
Nothing fancy, but its a great fast meal for those nights when you just don't know what to make.

Today was also spent shopping! I had christmas money burning a hole in my pocket so my friends and I, as many people did as well, headed to the mall. Things were looking bleak until I went into Ann Taylor Loft and there, I scored! I got 1 pair of jeans (normally $60); 1 pair of trousers (normally $60) and a sweater for $49! I am most excited about the jeans as I'm down to 2 pairs of jeans. Total amount saved: $81!!! I know what I'm wearing to work tomorrow. :)

Merry Christmas run

I set out this weekend knowing my plan was to run Christmas Eve. What a perfect way, to me, to celebrate any holiday and day off of work? The original plan was to get up and start my day with it before 9a.m..... well, friends,... that did not happen. As peaceful as a nice morning run can be, when I get the chance to sleep past 8, I take it. I came downstairs and started my day and the chances of an actual run happening felt like they were diminishing.

Until about 1:00. I decided I just needed to get out and do it. So that's exactly what I did. I laced up my shoes and headed out with music, phone, and water in tow. I wasn't sure how far I would go. I was pretty sure I overdressed but I didn't care. I did not want to struggle with being super cold for that first mile. Being alone, it would kill my resolve and I'd probably crap out at 2 miles. Of course, 2 miles in I had to ditch my performance fleece and tie it around my waist, stuff my gloves in my bra straps and put my headband around my wrist. It didn't really help encourage feelings of speed or gazelle-like runner status, but I was rarely cold or overheating so I did pretty well.

Wait, did I say I ran with music? For the most part, I believe in running without it. I enjoy the sounds of nature. Being aware of my surroundings and personal safety but I use my shuffle occasionally when I know I'll need that extra motivation. That something to drown out the voices telling me to stop. So today, I ran with my ipod. Metallica, Rihanna, System of a Down, Maroon 5, Trampled By Turtles, more Metallica, all prodded me onward. For some reason, Metallica provided more than just noise, and I felt my running power increase whenever it came on.

Despite using music as the ultimate distraction, I could not help but enjoy nature's show. The warm sun pushing temps toward an atypical 40 degrees. The shuffling of the path beneath my feet. The completely atypical lack of snow. It was like an early November day here in Minnesota and made for perfect running.
As I approached home, I finally fell to the urge to check my runkeeper to find out my distance. I had delusions that it was around 6 miles, and my heart sank when it said 4.98. I trudge toward home for another 0.3 before the demoralization of the hill ahead combined with that earlier deflation, made me turn the last quarter mile into a mere cool down walk.

I ended my run slightly disappointed that I hadn't done 6 or more miles, but was happy with 5.3, even though part of me truly thought it was further. That inner instinct was right. Upon inspection, my runkeeper had lost connection for a bit and just drew a straight line between the two points. I altered that and it turned out to be 5.55!  Gaining that quarter mile meant I ran 5.5 miles in 1 hour and I am perfectly happy with that.

One very endorphin producing, thought clearing, challenging hour. I do not run to race anymore. I do not need a race to make myself get out there. I run for myself. I run to celebrate holidays.  My Christmas present to myself did not cost any money, but left me feeling more satisfied than any tangible gift.

Domestically challenged?

If you're reading most of these dinner posts, you could infer that I'm not so domestically challenged, but for all skills I have in the kitchen in regards to baking and cooking, the rest of my domestic life looks far from suburban housewife idyllic. I'm learning the ropes and blogging about the process.... with a healthy dose of running blog posts too.

Day 4 and 5

Was too tired to post last night, but here's the rundown:

Day 4
Lunch: pasta, leftover italian sausage and pasta sauce
Dinner: Hot shredded beef on onion buns and french fries

Easy meal. Already had the hot shredded beef in the freezer. This is my version of fast food.


Day 5:
Lunch: ham & turkey sandwhiches on an onion bun; Sun chips; WAY too much candy at work
Dinner: Baked Ziti! (ok I cheat, I have no ziti pasta so I use penne or mostaccoli)

This is my 2nd time trying this recipe. I make it in a much smaller pan as its just the two of us and having 8 containers of leftover pasta in the freezer just doesn't work for me.... I get pretty sick of it quickly and then it sits there for a year getting freezer burned beyond recognition anyway.

My alterations: Ricotta is expensive and doesn't really have too many uses outside of pasta dishes so I buy cottage cheese. Its moister and B can just eat the rest of the container. Everyone wins.

Day 3 dinner challenge

Breakfast: leftover waffle, homemade latte

    I ran this morning with Amber and while we chatted post-run, I made us lattes and pulled out a homemade waffle leftover from saturday and popped it in the toaster. Alas, I forgot about it and over did 1/2 of it  but the latte helped fill me up for a little bit.

Lunch: Lean Cuisine Thai style noodles with chicken; pineapple cup; applesauce; candy

Dinner:

• Garlic Mashed Red potatoes (recipe here)
• Maple Dill Glazed Salmon

*Branden also made a Chicken and mushroom rice a roni. Not being a fan of mushroom flavor, I opted out of having any.

I had half a bag of red potatoes waiting for me on the counter so I decided tonight to make garlic mashed potatoes. I used the recipe linked above and didn't do any alterations to the recipe. It was good, but I should have known my tastes better and peeled the potatoes. I dislike potato skins and the bits of skin in the garlic mashed potatoes were no different. I would definitely make this again, but will be taking that 10 minutes to peel the potatoes.

The Maple Dill glazed salmon is one of my regular ways to prep fish and it didn't disappoint.

Christmas is 4 days away? WHHAAA?

Not a christmas decoration in site in this house. Not a cookie baked, present wrapped, christmas card sent. None of it. No snow on the ground. No christmas lists written, or even hopes of receiving any beautifully wrapped package waiting my eager hands tearing at the paper to reveal a surprise.

Going on a trip right after Thanksgiving and not coming back to MN until mid December really threw things off.

Day 2:

Breakfast: none
Lunch: leftovers from last night's meal (perfect recipe for this purpose! leftovers rocked!!!)
Dinner:

• Oreida country steak fries
• leftover glazed carrots
• Honey-Garlic thin cut pork chops

Another new recipe today! This time I chose a recipe for honey garlic pork chops from Sparkpeople.com. I read many favorable reviews, even from people who modified it by pan frying it. Reviews are how I usually decide if a recipe is worth my time and ingredients. At the same time, they can raise my expectations too high for a recipe. That was the case this time, unfortunately. I think the soy sauce thew off the flavor just enough that it was not quite what my palate was hoping for. Also, pan frying it with that soy sauce and honey resulted in a smell that was not appealing either to me.

I will probably not be adding this recipe to the book. I give it 2/5 spoons.

New Project

Haven't blogged in a while. So I will attempt another recipe/eat at home challenge.

Monday (today) = Day 1, Week 1


Exceptions: Breakfast at the coffee shop. I work at 5am on many days. The idea of breakfast before I go is just out of the question.Christmas eve and Christmas day are also exceptions due to family get togethers, although both involve meals at someone's house so it's not really "eating out".

This project will end in 30 days.

Todays meals:

Breakfast: none
Lunch: Mac n Cheese; almonds
Dinner: Creamy Broccoli Chicken with Herbs (see below)

I tried a new recipe tonight from the back of my soup can and it was not an epic failure as I was worried it would be.

Here is the recipe

My alterations:
1) I only cooked the pasta to 3 minutes from being done and added it to the mix and brought to a low boil for 3-4 minutes.
2) I chopped up the chicken into cubes so it would cook faster and be more of a casserole than a piece of chicken on a bed of pasta.

This was a wonderful 1 dish meal and only took me about 1/2 an hour including thawing out the frozen broccoli and chicken, cooking the pasta and putting it all together.

I give it 4 spoons out of a possible 5!