Happy New Year!

A quick update on "Project Slim Down for Baby:"

*Starting weight: 228 lbs

-Friday December 31: 225 lbs.

Yes, I'm going to post my weights, because I think I'm like a lot of people who thought that 200 pounds looks a lot bigger than it is. Reality check, I'm well over 200 pounds, and I don't think I look very much like those contestants on "Biggest Loser" who are only 20 pounds heavier than me.

I did 4 days of work outs this week and had a lot of fun doing them! I was introduced to a new fitness studio that only does classes and am considering getting a couple punch cards to add some spice to my journey! This isn't going to be easy, but it has to be done. It's not a resolution, it's a lifestyle change.

That being said, I hope you all have a wonderful evening celebrating (or happily saying goodbye to) the end of 2010! It has been a very difficult year for us, but we've also had many wonderful memories. I pray that 2011 brings Bobby a job, me success on my journey, and us a pregnancy. Happy New Year to you all!!

Happy New Year!

Orange Almond Chicken = Success!

This was super easy and really tasty!!

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1 Tbsp peanut or vegetable oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1/2 c. chopped shallots

3 oz mushrooms, sliced

1/3 c orange marmalade

3 Tbsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Orange slices (optional)

*Place almonds in a large nonstick skillet. Toast over medium heat, shaking the pan often, 5 minutes or until fragrant. Remove to a place and set aside.

*Warm oil in the same skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook 5 minutes or until no longer pink, turning occasionally. Remove to a plate. (I found this took closer to 10 minutes)

*Add shallots to the pan and cook 5 minutes or until soft. Add mushrooms and cook 5 minutes or until mushrooms render their juices (I just cooked them 5 minutes). Stir in marmalade, soy sauce, and pepper. Return chicken to the pan. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in thickest portion registers 160*F and juices run clear. *Top with almonds and orange slices, if using.

*I couldn't find shallots and forgot to save the half onion from another recipe, but it tasted fine without it. Also, if you're not an almond fan, the recipe still works great without them!

*We found it to be a little salty, so maybe 1 Tbsp less soy sauce and add a tablespoon or so of marmalade (it'll also help decrease the sodium).

*We served it with brown rice and poured the extra sauce over the rice and chicken.

Per serving:

265 calories, 20 g protein, 26 g carbs, 10 g fat, 46 mg cholesterol, 818 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.

Bobby and I are fans of Chinese, and this was a pretty good substitute for take out! It took me about 20 minutes total to cook this, SO easy!

Project Slim Down for Baby

First let me say that I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! The new year is just around the corner and I hope you all had a chance to refresh a little with your families and friends.

Bobby and I are going to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary tomorrow and we've started the "baby discussion." It's come time for us to start thinking about starting a family. However, I've really let myself go in terms of weight and health over the last 2 years and don't feel like I'm in a good place physically to carry a child.

I know I'm not the only person out there who struggles with losing weight and eating better. My mom began her own journey in June 2009 and has lost over 50 pounds! She did this by using a personal trainer and following recipes from a great cook book. This Christmas, she gave me my own copy. The book is called "Eat Up, Slim Down" and has tons of great recipes for every meal of the day and lots of great facts and tips for keeping up a healthy food lifestyle.

I have decided that I want to share my own weight loss journey with my family and friends who read this blog. I feel it's a way to keep myself accountable. As I go through the cookbook, I will share recipes that we really liked (and that is saying a lot because Bobby is a pretty picky eater).

Tonight we made the El Dorado Casserole, which we LOVED! Here is the recipe:

1 pound extra lean ground beef or ground turkey breast

1 onion, chopped (I used half an onion and it tasted fine)

1 cup (8 oz) fat-free ricotta cheese (I used "part skim")

1 package (8 oz) reduced fat cream cheese

2 cans (4 oz each) chopped green chile peppers

1 can (4 oz) black olives, chopped and drained

4 cups coarsely broken baked tortilla chips

3/4 cup shredded reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese

3/4 cup shredded reduced fat Cheddar Cheese

Salsa (optional)

*Preheat oven to 375*F. Coat a 13" x 9" baking dish with nonstick spray

*In a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, cook beef/turkey and onion, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink. Drain off any fat.

*In a large bowl, combine ricotta, cream cheese, peppers (with liquid) and olives.

*Spoon half of meat into the prepared baking dish. Top with half of ricotta mixture. Top with 2 cups tortilla chips. Sprinkle with half of Monterey Jack and half of Cheddar. Repeat layers with remaining meat mixture, ricotta mixture, chips and shredded cheeses.

*Cover and bake 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Serve with salsa, if using.

*Makes 8 servings

*I suggest skipping the layer of chips and sprinkling them on top towards the end of baking. The chips got soggy during baking, which didn't affect the taste, but there was no crunch.

Per serving: 339 calories, 24 g protein, 16 g carbs, 19 g fat, 71 mg cholesterol, 659 mg sodium, 2 g fiber

Enjoy!

Happy October!

It's October!?!?! When did that happen??

I started my new job at Transition Plus through Saint Paul Public Schools. I am an Education Assistant/Interpreter so I'm not just letting my hands fly, I'm also doing a little teaching and, well, some assisting. We only have one student who needs an interpreter, and there are 2 of us who are EA/Interpreters, so sadly, I haven't been interpreting much so far. I'm slightly nervous that my skill will decline, because I've never been in a work environment where I'm NOT interpreting all day every day. But, I'm sure it'll be just fine. I just need to pick up some more VRS shifts and I'll be good to go!

So far, I'm loving my job. I work with 18-21 year olds who are "transitioning" into the real world and aren't quite ready for their diploma. It brings about it's challenges, but what job doesn't? I really feel like this was the perfect fit for me. I get to do some teaching, I get to help the students out with their needs and I can still do what I love which is interpreting.

In September, we had our first experience at Target Field! It is a beautiful place and I'm so pumped to get on the ball and go to more games next year!

And now it's October, which is kind of scary because I really don't remember much of September.... But it means Halloween is coming up, then Thanksgiving, then my FAVORITE time of the year!! While our life is not in an ideal situation right now, things are going really well and I'm grateful for what we have. Happy October!

Let my birthday begin!!

It is that time of year....it's my birthday! I will be 28 years old on August 17 and I'm SO excited for it! It usually ends up being about a week of celebrating since I have dinner with both sides of the family and usually do something with my friends.

Wednesday afternoon we went to Don Pablo's with my family for yummy fajitas! Then we went back to my parents' house for my favorite, yellow bunt cake with chocolate frosting!

Yesterday we went to Il Gatto in Uptown with Bobby's family for dinner. It was pretty good. The booth was pretty snug and we all ordered hot food, so we were way overheated during dinner. They have a decent Happy Hour menu and the HH goes until 7, which you don't see a lot, but was nice because we met at 6 and still got to enjoy the specials. It's mostly Italian food. Bobby and his sister had pasta and they both seemed to enjoy it. I had Italian Fish and Chips which were yummy, but HEAVY on the chips!

Today I spent the afternoon with Ryan in downtown Stillwater. We had lunch at the Freighthouse restaurant which was yummy. The sweet potato fries are delish! We stopped at Tremblay's Sweet Shop and picked up some truffles. While there we saw a stack of brochures titled "Stop Diabetes"....oxymoron?? Then we drove up to Anoka to check out Lillian's, which is my favorite boutique! I had a birthday coupon so we both got a new pair of sunglasses, I got some earrings and Ryan got on of those key chains that hangs over the side of your purse.

Tonight we're meeting a small group of friends near our house for drinks and yummy food! Happy Birthday to me!

A Non-Guilty Pleasure

Ok, I love ice cream. In fact, I've been known to say it's my favorite food. Well, sometimes, too much of a good thing isn't all that good. I've been trying really hard to adopt a healthy lifestyle and get more exercise. Bobby and I really enjoy yogurt and have tried putting just a regular tub of yogurt in the freezer and it was SOLID, couldn't even enjoy it frozen. We also enjoy Yoplait Whips yogurt. I saw on a commercial that they suggest putting this kind in the freezer, so I tried it! Oh my goodness, SO good! It's a personal size, so it's just the right amount of calories and it really is the right amount of sweet. They have the fruit flavors, strawberry, raspberry and others. They also make a chocolate flavor, plain or with fruit flavoring. I've got to say, I am SO glad this works so well because I have a sweet tooth after dinner almost daily, I just don't have to feel so bad about it now!

Wait...summer is almost over?!?!

I looked at the calendar this morning and couldn't believe it's already August 9th! I'm not complaining because that means I'm officially off for 3 weeks. I say 3 weeks because I'm determined to get a job that starts with the school year. I have sent out several applications to various school districts and now I just have to wait.

I did get two phone calls/e-mails this morning for interviews so that's awesome! It's scary knowing that the official start-up to the school year is just 3 weeks away, but I'm feeling more positive each day that something will come my way.

We've already been enjoying August. The picture above was taken at Paws on Grand. Bobby, Karen (Brad was up north), me and our dogs went to Grand Ave and got to walk the dogs, get some free stuff and see our Homeward Bound friends! It was very hot but all 3 dogs did very well.

Another reason that I'm totally fine with it being August.... my birthday is next week! I love my birthday because it turns into a week-long thing. I'm starting on Wednesday with lunch out with my family, then out with friends Friday night and the rest is up to Bobby! I'm just excited to spend the whole day with my husband, no matter what it is we're doing.

Oh and let's not forget....the State Fair! I LOVE the Fair! We really want to go during the day on a weekday and listen to the live broadcast of 107.1 FM because we didn't get the chance to do that last year. We'll probably go twice, like we usually do.

AND, my dear friends Angela and Nick are coming to Minnesota over Labor Day weekend for her brother's wedding, so if the stars align, we'll get to see them and baby Josephine! All in all, I'm looking forward to a relaxing and fun August!

Fun pictures!

My friend Stefanie's sister, Melanie has started doing photography and she took some pictures of the 3 of us back in May at the park near our house. We got some great shots, take a look!

Her website is: http://www.wix.com/motwins18/MelanieSwansonPhotography Check her out!

Our new favorite thing!

I signed up for Netflix back in August when Ryan was living with us so we could get a bunch of movies to watch on the weekends between the two subscriptions. Well, not too long after I got a disc that I could use to stream any of the "Watch Instantly" shows/movies through our Wii. However, we had to know our wireless password, which we haven't been able to remember since I used it initially when we moved in 2 1/2 years ago. I've been going back to the Wii several times to try different things, nothing works. Well, we got into "Dexter" and finished season 1, knowing that we could stream season 2 through our Wii if we could just get the password. I searched high and low for that post-it note with the password I wrote down back in 07. I found one, but didn't think it was right.... but it was! I was running around the house screaming with joy that we can finally stream movies and TV shows on our Wii!! Not to mention people can bring their laptops over and use our wireless network now!

So our new favorite thing/obsession is the Netflix Watch Instantly streaming through our Wii! It has been around for a while but we were just finally able to use it!! It's especially great through the summer when there's really nothing new on TV except sporting events.

If you don't have Netflix and have been considering it, I highly recommend it! You can get the cheapest subscription where you only get 2 movies a month by mail but you can stream Watch Instantly stuff through your computer or capable gaming systems as much as you want! The downfall that I've heard about is that you can't use closed caption on the Watch Instantly application. That stinks, and I may even send in a comment to Netflix about that. You can't even use the CC on the TV for it, which I think is silly!

We love it and have been able to catch up on a lot of shows that we didn't have time to sit down and watch during the school year. It's not as good as DVR just because the most current episodes aren't available, but if you have patience and can wait for the whole season to come out, it's well worth it!

Lazy puppy....

Lazy pup and lazy dad watching "Dexter"

Taking a break from his nap to see what's up

Easy and Yummy Dog Treats

Sweet Potato Chips:

-Either peel a sweet potato (if you're making fries) or save the peel if you bake the potato.

-Put leftover peel on a baking sheet, brush them with a little bit of olive oil.

-Cook peel in the oven at 400* for 12-15 minutes or until slightly burned (like in the picture above)

-Let cooked peel cool and break it into pieces suitable for your dog.

Nemo LOVES these (as you can see) and they're super easy to make!

We're back!

Ok, I just realized that I completely abandoned my blogging duties and need to get back into it! I think I just assume it has to be updates only on the blog when it can really be about anything. So I'm going to post a dog recipe in just a minute because it's too good not to share!

Updates:

Bobby has been out of a job since January, it is a very tough market out there. Luckily his unemployment was extended until November so that buys us time but the last 6 months has gone by quickly, it's just a matter of time before November is here. I was working in a school district and I ADORED my job at the school I was at. I fell in love with the staff and had an amazing student. Originally in May, I was told I had a position in the fall and would be back at the same school. A week later, I was pulled into a meeting and was told that 2 students had dropped interpreting services for the fall and because I was the last person hired, I was being laid off. I was devastated. The last week of school I was a wreck and I barely got through the last day of school because I had to keep going back to my desk to compose myself. It broke my heart that I wasn't going to be returning to these amazing co-workers and this student that I had developed a great rapport with. But, it is what it is and there's nothing I can do short of encouraging Deaf K-12 students to attend a school in the district so I can be rehired.

I took on a summer position through the district that is just through August 5, and I just have to keep my eyes open for available positions for the fall and try my best to get an interview and get back into the district. It's a crappy situation but it's totally out of my control.

We've been through a lot of tough life situations in the past 7 months but we're strong and we're going to get through it all.