Monday, January 17, 2011

Oreo Truffles













Jeremiah's Specialty

I don't even know what he really calls it, but it's good....oh so good!



What you need:
skinless, boneless, chicken breasts chopped
salsa/veggies
rice
tortillas
cheese
sour cream

He cooks the chicken on the stove top till done, adds in the veggies (maybe an onion, green pepper, etc.), adds in the salsa, adds in some rice (about a cup or so), let's the rice cook in the salsa. Once the rice is done, we load up tortillas with the goodness, top it off with cheese and sour cream, then we enjoy it till we're stuffed!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

What's for dinner?





Well....yummy dear steak, baked potato, and steamed asparagus! Delish!!!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Decorating Help

We've been in our house since June, and in a lot of the rooms it looks like we just moved in. I'm ready to make our house our home. We live in a split-level -- (aka "dumb-dumb" house as my sweet twin sister so nicely puts it) ha!

When you walk in the entrance you see down into the basement/man cave, up into our formal living room, kitchen, and dining room. I'm fairly satisfied with the living room. But, I really need to work on the dining room. The dining room is a bright red color (which I like), it just doesn't flow very well with how we decorated the living room and the kitchen....

Excuse the Christmas decorations still being up...we're redneck around here! :)



So, what I'm thinking is to paint the dining room in the green family -- like olive-y green, but not so dark. I'd love to get the Paula Deen dining room table...decorate the walls with a large antique mirror I have......any ideas?

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tonight's Supper






was soooooo good! :)

Garlic-herb chicken, chimichuri cous cous, and salad with feta....

Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir Fry

Jeremiah and I want to cook more meals at home this year. We both enjoy cooking (and eating), so we grabbed some of our favorite cookbooks to look through and pick some recipes to start with.

The first recipe we picked is Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir Fry from the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. We ate it over white rice. It was so good!





1 T. cornstarch
1 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. salt
ground black pepper to taste
1 pound trimmed, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized cubes
1 T. toasted sesame oil
1 c. 1/2"-wide strips onion (about 1" long)
1 c. 1/2"-wide strips of green bell pepper (about 1" long)
2 T. freshly minced garlic
1/4 c. bottled sweet and sour stir-fry sauce (I used La Choy)

In a large bowl, combine the cornstarch, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and mix well. Add the chicken and toss until the chicken pieces are thoroughly coated.

Place a large nonstick skillet or nonstick wok over high heat. When hot, add 1 t. sesame oil, onion, pepper, and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the garlic softens and the vegetables are crisp-tender, 2-4 minutes. Be careful not to overcook or the garlic may burn. Transfer the vegtables to a large bowl and cover to keep warm.

Return the pan to high heat and add another t. sesame oil and half the chicken in a single layer. Cook until the pieces are lightly browned on the bottom. Flip the pieces and continue cooking until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear, 4-6 minutes. Add the cooked chicken to the bowl with the veggies. Return the pan to the high heat, add the remaining oil, and cook the remaining chicken.

Return the veggies and chicken to the pan to reheat if necessary. Transfer to a medium serving bowl, add the sauce, and mix until well combined. Divide the stir-fry among 4 serving bowls and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

(223 calories/ serving, 27 g protein, 16 g carbs, 5 g fat (less than 1 g saturated), 66 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 283 mg sodium)

Saturday, January 1, 2011

1-1-11


Happy New Year! Every new year is happy, really! It's a chance to start fresh and dream about the new!

2010 held so many wonderful things for me! The year started off just as any other. My husband and I enjoying each other, living in our apartment, just have celebrated our 1st anniversary in October. At the very beginning of March we found out I was pregnant! It was the most exciting and scary thing we'd ever faced! At that point, we went into overdrive trying to find a home (our apartment was just not big enough), a new car (he drives a truck and I drove a 2-door Jeep Wrangler), and plan for this new little person to come into our lives. We quickly traded my Jeep for a Nissan Murano and the house search began. (We also wanted to get the 1st time home buyers credit). Shortly after we began looking, I saw a house online that wasn't particularly what I would go for, but I loved the curtains in the pictures I saw (I know--weird!). So we decided to take a look. It had most of the things we wanted, everything we needed, and a few extras we were thrilled to get. We put in an offer, and after a couple of back-and-forths, we became home owners! At this time, Jeremiah also began his first year of earning his MBA...he has so much to balance, and has done amazing this year -- even keeping a 4.0GPA in grad school!

Around the time of us moving in, we found out we were having a sweet baby girl, Emery Rose. We got started on decorating her room and then waiting for her arrival.

My mother and I spent lots of time sewing her bedding and curtains. I had a vision and wouldn't settle for less. We were blessed by so many with pretty much everything we needed to comfortably welcome a baby girl to the world. We were ready.

November 5 she was born. Such a treasure to us! We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas as a new family! 2010 was a dream come true!

2011 I expect to be just as wonderful if not better! We know God has wonderful plans for us!

I usually don't set resolutions -- I don't work well under pressure (even if I put it on myself). But I did want to have a couple of goals of organization for my home. I love being a momma and want to be a great homemaker...so my goals are simple....

  • Clean the refrigerator.
  • Organize all important documents in our home.
  • Cook more meals at home.
That's it. I've started on all of them. Almost finished with the 1st two on my list. :) Life is good!