Sunday Funday

I get to spend all day with......

It's this pretty little girls 8 month birthday. She can crawl. She can babble. She can wave. She can stink. And boy can she smile. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful niece. She can really just make your heart smile. Her parents have done quite well I must say :)

So, here's to Kate. My favorite niece =)

Enjoy your Sunday.

Relax & don't go into a coma from all the supberbowl food. It's hard, I know.

Crispy Asian Salad

Sometimes I have a hard time branching out. At times I get stuck in my ways and it something seems a bit scary, I tend to stay away from it. I am getting older, so I figured I should stop being a baby. For now.

Last night Jeff & I went to a restaurant, Ingredient, after a good sweaty work out.  I'd never been and boy I had been missing out.  The menu was full of fresh foods and everything looked amazing. Since I'd never been I didn't know what to get. I get overwhelmed with decisions so I asked Jeff for his opinion. He suggested the Cripsy Asian Salad. I got scared. I debated just getting a gourmet pizza. I put on my big girl pants, and ventured out into the unknowns of salad world.

Ingredients included: thai-chili glazed steak, napa cabbage, bok choy, glass noodles, edamame, crispred peppers, snow peas, carrots, and spicy cashews spun in our sesame ginger dressing and topped with crispy wonton strips. See why my "I just like greens, carrots, eggs, cheese, and chicken in my salad" self was a bit scurred. I maned up. I tasted the first bite. I smiled. Yummy in my tummy. Especially with the bread (which I also have an obsession for).

 I liked it so much....I ate it again today! Because I ate all the steak last night in the salad I chose to chop up grilled chicken I had left over and put it in the salad. PERFECT. So good. Even on day #2. What a salad.

I must admit though, I stopped eating the salad once I ate all the chicken. But it was a delicious lunch. I can proudly say I

tried something new and enjoyed it. Gold star for me.

Since I knew salad wouldn't feel me up for too long, I added a small bowl of yogurt with some granola on top.  I just bought some Bear Naked 100% Pure & Natural Granola: Fruit and Nut the other day and wanted to try it out. Oh my. My mouth thanked me.  If you haven't tried this, you should. AND it's really healthy. Delicious + Healthy = SCORE in my book.

Breakfast:

2 egg whites

1 piece of whole wheat toast

(thanks Jeff :))

Lunch:

Crispy Asian Salad + Grilled Chicken

Small cup of yogurt + granola

Gym:

30 min stair stepper

20 min basketball/shoot around

Now it's time to shower, see my wonderul parents, and watch KU kick some Husker buns. ROCK CHALK

Happy Saturday :)

Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti

Something about buffalo sauce just makes my heart warm. And smile. And jump for joy.

And it's quite odd because I dislike the color orange and am not the biggest fan of spicy things. These do not stop my love though. Oh, the things you do for love.

Then you add chicken. And spaghetti. Then I just wanna fall over and die...of happiness. Jeff & I were trying to figure out how to incorporate some buffalo sauce in a meal and thought of a pasta that a friend Rebecca made, but we weren't exactly sure on the ingredients and didn't want to mess anything up...too bad at least. So, we decided to stick with something we knew and knew would be good, especially with the addition of buffalo sauce. Plus, Jeff had been shoveling LOTS of snow so he was a hungry man so I had to think fast.

This was ALL covered. Holy snow drift.

Now you see why I was scurrying with the meal. He was sweaty. He was tired. He had no gloves. I felt awful. I did not however, ask him to do this. He was feeling extra sweet I guess. Plus he said it "wasn't even that cold". It was like 10 degrees folks. So then he came in and enjoyed some homemade tortilla chips, and the heaven on earth buffalo chicken spaghetti. Delicious. Spicy. Spaghetti-y (whatever). All we needed was wine. We agreed we should stop having a bottle a night though, that was only for snow days.

 Ignore the cookbook. I forgot to take it out of the picture. Whoopsy.

Ingredients:

5 chicken tenders (or more; can also use breasts)
Scallions
Pasta (whole wheat)
1/4 cup buffalo sauce; more if needed
1 teaspoon of red pepper
8 oz spaghetti sauce

Directions:

1. Cut up chicken into small chunks and place in skillet
2. Place buffalo sauce in skillet, continue to cook until chicken is done. Do this for about 25 minutes so the buffalo sauce can soak into the chicken. Yum Yum Yum
3. Boil pasta in a med. size pan
4. Place spaghetti sauce in a sauce pan, heat until warm. Put in red pepper, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
5. Put the pasta on your plate, top with chicken, then spaghetti sauce.  Sprinkly scallions over the meal. Pure. Delight.
6. Finger lickin' good. Try it.

Fab Friday

Is it Friday or am I just dreaming? It seems like it took 100 years to get to today. Since it is Friday I have decided it was time for some fabulous finds. I am all about saving a dime, so I'm sure you'll get a lot of these in the future.

Today's Fabulous Find:

Spray Painted & Lace Stenciled Picture Frames
found at: http://www.leethal.net/index.html

Via Lee Meredith

How stinking fun? I love the bright colors. You could even do a subtle color and put it in your living room with pictures from your wedding, a quote, song lyrics, and even just one simple word such as "HI".  It's also an extremly cheap decorating project. And quite fast. Many garage sales, dollar stores, and good will stores sell picture frames for dirt cheap. What a cheap way to have some fun and color in the house!

All you need are some frames, lace (if you want to add fun designs), and spray paint colors out the wazoo.

I also thought it would be a cute idea for a wedding. Ding ding ding. Maybe I can add this little addition to ours? I think it would be a fabulous little table addition that would work perfectly with the gerber daisies. I love color. I just really do. It's decided, I'm doing it.

How simply wonderful. Maybe I'll make one tonight. Maybe I'll give one as a gift. Or with a picture in it. Oh my goodness maybe even a valentines gift. Yesss. Okay, I'll stop.

----------------------------------------------------------------
 I spiced up some spaghetti last night with the addition of buffalo chicken. Jeff was outside shoveling the poor two foot hidden drive way, so I was Miss Martha Stewart. So tasty. I'll come back later today with some pictures and the recipe. Really, you should try it. I went back for thirds seconds.

I'm going to try to start writing my breakfast and lunch on here to motivate myself to continue eating right. So you can skip this if you would like :). OR you can use it to create something healthy of your own! Please join me, I cannot do this alone. Well, at least it would be more fun if you joined.

Breakfast:

Banana
Smoothie (frozen blueberries, banana, orange juice, 1% vanilla yogurt, frozen strawberries) #1 Favorite

Lunch:

3 grilled chicken tenders
1/2 green bell pepper
1 apple

Happy Friday!!

Planner Pants

Hello, my name is Molly and I am really bad at planning. Awful. I really just like to go with the flow. Everytime I "plan" something it usually doesnt work out, so why plan? But we all know Valentines Day is rounding the ol' corner, and peeking it's little head out taughting me to start planning something. So I'll give in to looking, and hopfully it leads to a real plan.

I am lucky enough to have a fiance who is especially good at surprises, gift giving, and making occasions really special because is a PLANNER PANTS. I used to think I was really creative and good at all that until I met him. Can't really complain about that one though. Planning starts today. Planning starts now.

I wanted to show you a few old ideas we've done and a few new creative ones I've found.

First V-Day: Our first Valentines Day I went a bit silly. Whoops. I thought I had to spend a ridiculous amount of money. I thought I needed to really hook him. I thought simply..WAY too much. The first part of my idea I thought was quite spendid. Starting the first day of the week leading up to Valentines Day I would stick little notes on his car that I had decorated out of scrapbook paper and other supplies.  Each day was a different song, poem, note, etc. On Valentine's Day I had bought a variety of gifts and put them in a large red bag.  These gifts included candy, new shoes, massage gift card, and other items that I could write things like "you are so sweet", "you are so comfy", "you make me feel relaxed" on them and be really cheeeesy. Ya, overboard on the gifts I know. I thought mine was all cool and creative until he showed up.

Jeff's Idea: This makes me smile. The day before Valentines Day we went and ate ice cream. Normal. Jeff loves ice cream. So as we were going back to his place, he missed our turn and we ended up on campus. Jeff missed his turn on purpose. He drove to a spot on top of campus overlooking Potter's Lake which is our little lake pond on campus. Gorgeous. He stopped and we looked at the gorgeous lake as it was night and glowing. He gave me a homemade card (yes he made the card and it was pink and red and EVERYTHING). It was perfect. He even made the envelope it came in. I'll put the pictures up when I can. So I open this adorable little card and it has a gift card to Beauty Brands for a spa treatment (mani, pedi, and facial). He gave it to me a day early so I didn't plan anything the next morning so I could get all of this done. On the left side of the card it had a song. The song was "You had me from hello" by Brad Paisley. =)  To make things even better, we still had Valentines Day the next day! The next day he gave me two CD's of songs that made him think of me, some we had together, and some that told how he felt. Great idea. After all that I got all fancied up and we went to eat at Plaza 3 in the city. As dinner was nearing an end Jeff said he had to use the restroom. Normal, right? Well he came back with ANOTHER homemade pink awesome card. On the outside it said "You are amaze-ing" with a maze drawn on the front. Inside he whispered some sweet nothings and I began to cry in the restaurant. Classy. At the bottom of his notes he usually just signs Jeff. But this one he signed it as I love you, Jeff. The first written I love you there was. This takes the cake for me on favorite Valentines Day. It was so thoughtful, personal, and sweet.

Now that I've long winded myself. How about some ideas?

1.) FOOD

“The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.”

2.) Homemade Crafts

www.designspongeonline.com

 Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com

Perfect. It adds a personal spin to your gift and it comes from the heart.

3.) Activities

Go somewhere that means something to both of you.
Have fun.
Get a massage together.
Go to your favorite hang out.
Get away for the day and rent a cabin.
Enjoy each other's company with a bottle of wine and some board games.
Just do something that brings you closer and gives you time to truly enjoy one another because really, that's what Valentine's Day is about. Not the money. The time spent together, no matter what you may be doing.


I actually thought up my 2011 Valentines Day gift already. Stay tuned.

Chili for a Chilly Day

For some reason every single time it's cold and snowy outside, I crave chili.  There must me some sort of sensor in my body that recognizes snow and begs me to bust out the beef and chili beans. I don't go against my gut, so I gave in.



Looks normal, right?

 Growing up, the chili I had was very simple. Beef, chili beans, chili powder,  tomato sauce, salt, and pepper. This chili was always topped with fritos and cheese (some added ketchup..lots of ketchup). Comfort food maxed out for me. I have always been in love. Until I saw this....



RUNNNNNNNN. It's green. RUNNNNNNNN


However, since I have a man who is not so simple with his food we decided to spice it up a tad. I am not a fan of big chunks. It makes my mouth squirm. So when he decided to add green peppers, I was a little scared. I did, however, put my big girl pants on and ate it anyway. (I may or may not have cut them smaller when he wasn't looking.)

My camera skills are not so great.

It was really good chili in the end. I couldn't really complain except for the burning sensation of spices in my mouth, which were oh so tasty. Also, you can see why it was bareable.

Which one do you think is mine?

Ingredients:
2 lbs of beef (we used 93% lean)
1 chopped green bell pepper
4 small chopped jalapenos
2 8oz. Huntz tomato sauce cans
2 15oz. cans of chili beans
1 package of chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of red pepper
1/2 teapsoon salt

Directions:
1. Crumble ground beef in a large cooking pan
2. Brown ground beef
3. Add green pepper
4. Cook until peppers are cooked; drain oil
5. Add tomato sauce, jalapeno peppers, chili beans, salt, cinnamon, red pepper, and chili powder.
6. Stir and simmer on low for at leat 25 min.
7. (You could choose to add honey at this point...but I dislike that idea. However, you may not :) )
If you do add honey add 1/3 cup.
8. Place your choice of fritos, cheese, and/or ketchup on top.
9. Grab wine and take a seat to enjoy this tasty meal

Snowed In

Word on the streets is we are getting 9-14 inches of snow before tomorrow morning.  What does that mean for me? NO school + NO work = Captive Molly.

So what to do on a snow day....

EAT. DRINK. ENTERTAIN YOURSELF.

Here's a list of a few things we are doing on this snow day:

-Had an egg/toast breakfast
-Making a healthy meal plan
-Relaxing
-Playing board games
-Watching T.V.
-Staring out the window at this crazy blizzard (Worst in 20 years!)
-Eat.
-Drink Wine. Only two bottles left, we could be in trouble.
-And smiling because we don't have to go to work and I don't have to go to school



Okay, maybe not part of the healthy meal plan. BUT you can never be too prepared on a snow day!



Welcome, my friend snow day.

Who wants some snow flavored ice?
ME :)