Crazy Saturdays....Lazy Sundays

Here was my beautiful drive to work this morning:

The photo doesn't do it much justice, but Mikayla and I just loved looking at the pink sky.

Snowshoeing was quite the experience.  I'm just glad I rented them and didn't invest ;) It wasn't hard, it wasn't easy; it wasn't fun, but it wasn't dull.... it just... was.  It would be much more fun if I had someone to go with, because it became lonely awfully fast.  I did, however, make friends with the one cross country skier that I saw.  Other than that, it pretty much looked like this:

I would definitely go again if someone was to join me, other than that, I didn't really like being in the woods alone. Show shoeing did allow me to see where the old Gore Gondolas went to die:

Yesterday was the greatest lazy day I have had in a long time.  I think my body was just exhausted from show shoeing and skiing all day Saturday.  (Yes, I did get back on the skis, but only the "baby" trails!).  I didn't sleep in Sunday morning, but I took about 3 amazing naps during the day! I watched a few episodes of My Name is Earl, which I'm sorry, but I love.  Pete and I just laid on the couch all day, slept and ate, it was so very nice and relaxing!

Breakfast made our tummy's full and our eyes sleepy:

Those are my healthified breakfast potatoes hard at work, cooking in the pan! I made Pete a breakfast burrito, filled with these yummy looking suckers, along with scrambled eggs and leftover chicken and rice from a taco salad from Saturday night.  (Pete has this love for breakfast burritos!). I, on the other hand, ate my usual, along with potatoes:

Lunch was baked pierogies and roasted cauliflower; it was a lazy girls dream. Pop those suckers into the oven and bam! lunch is served!  Dinner was 2 amazing pizzas:

Pizza 1 is red sauce, shrimp, onions, mushrooms, peppers and black olives. Pizza 2 is mostly Alfredo sauce, mixed with some red sauce, Shrimp, Olives, tomatoes, onions, broccoli, and ricotta blobs (my fav!).  Both had taco cheese, cheddar cheese, and Monterey  Jack.  These are called "I-really-want-a-pizza-lets-see-what-we-have-in-the-fridge" pizza.  Those are usually the best kind of meals anyway!


I leave you with a photo of my sleepy Rocket Dog:

Breakfast Potatoes

2 Red Potatoes, cut into very tiny cubes

Olive Oil

1 onion, diced

Fresh Parsley, chopped

salt

Heat olive oil in a pan, add onion, potatoes and parsley.  Cook until brown (we like 'em real brown and crunchy), take out, and serve! Sprinkle with salt.

A snowy Friday...

Before I was pregnant, as in my skinnier days, I used to eat a similar breakfast to this every single morning.  I would cook a dippy egg, put it on a toasted English muffin, plop on some fresh spinach, add some Tabasco sauce... and breakfast was served.  Now, I decided to use these Flat bread things, or "Sandwich Thins", which are pretty good as long as you don't over toast them.  Since I am preggers and no longer allowed to eat my beloved dippy eggs, I cooked one egg and put it on a sandwich thin, along with a slice of deli American Cheese, Boston Lettuce, and tomatoes smothered in... salt! mmm, such a good, low-cal breakfast.  Its super filling when you eat it, but I'm definitely hungry an hour and a half later.  Since my plan is to just eat all day, that's okay with me :) Its more filling if you make 2 eggs, but I don't do that, too many eggs give me a tummy ache.

Its finally snowing here!!! Although, its probably not snowing up north at the ski mountains, and its certainly not going to stick. Its also not going to provide me with a snow day in which my 2 other loves have the day off from school and we take a family trip to Gore! So this time... its "just snowing".  There's no benefit in it for me! I cannot wait until this weekend, I don't have any plans, but I cant wait to just relax and have my family at home.

This pretty lil face starts her All Mountain Ski Adventure group on Saturday, she is MORE than excited!! This means she is enrolled in an all season program that is full day every Saturday.  She will be with the same children and the same instructor; this will maximize her ski growth! Mikayla is honestly the best lil skier on the planet, and she cannot wait to "go really fast straight down the mountain"... thanx Peter. Mikayla is so not scared to ski anything.  She has the best attitude towards trying new things, and not only that, but she is actually good too! I'm really going to have to up my game next winter if I want to keep up with the lil princess!

Seriously, how beautiful is she?!?!

Meat for dinner!

Ever wonder what in the world to do with a very thin, cheap piece of beef?

ever wish you could make it into a very easy, delicious, filling dinner using only these ingredients?

Well... you can!! (and cheese, not pictured)

What I do first, is open a box of stove top stuffing.  I prefer chicken, and as you can see here I didn't even buy stove top, I bought the store brand.  I dump it in a bowl and also mix in one can of diced tomatoes, and squirt in some Italian dressing.  I mix it all together, and let it sit for a while so the stuffing gets moist, without actually cooking it, using butter, and dirtying a pot!

Then, I take the beef and slice it into pieces smaller than my hand.  I usually just buy it pre cut, however, this time the store didn't have any. 

Then, all I do is heat a frying pan, spray PAM all over it, and put the beef down, on heat a lil less than Medium.  This meat will cook in about 2 mins, so be careful!! I like to brown it (slightly) on one side, and do a quick flip.  As soon as I flip the meat, I take a handful of the stuffing mixture and just squish it down right on top of the meat.  I also usually sprinkle mozz cheese on top - this time I used shredded cheddar.  I do this (quickly) to all of the pieces and cover the meat so the cheese melts on top.  I quickly take the cover off and serve!! Here's what a (almost) full pan looks like cooking

It gets a lil sloppy, depending on how moist you make the stuffing.  I like to squirt a lil more dressing in the mix right before I put it ontop of the meat.  I did 2 pan rotations.  They are much more filling than they actually appear thanks to the stuffing and cheese!

On the side I also made really thin sweet potato chips... by slicing them thin, spraying them with PAM, salt, and Chili Powder, and roasting them for about 15 mins in the oven at 450.

While the oven was on, I also roasted Brussel Sprouts, made the same way.  These suckers are my favorite, along with Pete... and I ate them as I took them out of the oven!

I covered these in garlic salt... my love!! Here's my full plate:

What you see on there as well is escarole I made alongside dinner yesterday.  I was craving veggies, and this was easy enough... I just cut the escarole and steamed it for about 15 minutes.  I prefer mine smothered with hot pepper.... Tabasco sauce works well too!

I think tonight I'm going to make something Mexican with ground pork, since I had such a craving for Taco Bell yesterday but never actually ate it! Happy cooking!

Dont feel like cooking? I didnt either!

The other night I made two packs of these lil suckers:

One of the restaurants Pete and I eat at serve stuffed Rigatoni, and I think it is the greatest thing on the planet, so much different than Ravioli! Pete surprised me one night and brought me home 2 packs, thinking I would love them.  They were so simple to make.  Honestly.  They take 2 mins to boil.  While they were  boiling, I heated up one big skillet, and dumped in a bag of frozen broccoli, sliced mushrooms, frozen peas, and sausage (for peter and Mikayla).  Once that was cooked a bit, I added one jar of Barilla Vodka Sauce and half of a jar of Ragu Alfredo.  Tossed in the stuffed Rigatoni, and PRESTO!

I also added sausage, for Pete and Mikayla's enjoyment.

A yummy dinner! 

Short-cut stuffed Rigatoni

2 bags PC stuffed Cheese & Spinach Rigatoni (16 oz)
1 bag frozen broccoli florets
1/2 cup frozen peas
4 lg mushrooms, sliced
1 Jar Barilla Vodka Sauce
1/2 Jar Ragu Alfredo Sauce
3-4 sausage links, already boiled
Rosemary

Boil 2 bags of Frozen Rigatoni, for about 2 minutes.  In a frying pan, heat olive oil and throw in sliced sausage, and sprinkle on Rosemary.  Cook until it browns, then add mushrooms, peas and broccoli.  (Onion would be good here too!).  Once that is cooked add jar of vodka sauce and 1/2 jar Alfredo, stir.  Add in Rigatoni, serve.

NYE Wedding

The wedding we went to last night was simply amazing.  It was at the Century House in Latham, and the Bride, Lisa, really outdid herself.  Cocktail hour was fantastic - there was a mashed potato bar, a pasta bar, chocolate fountains, a cheese station and a veggie station.  Then, the staff walked around passing out appetizers. My lovely husband Pete pointed me out to every single Waiter/waitress, and they all made sure they came directly to me for first dibs :) Husbands are pretty amazing!! My fav appetizer was mini-grilled cheeses... with brie and lobster... yum!!

Dinner was supposed to be a choice of Filet Mignon or Lobster... Pete and I planned to get one of each and split; however, when it was time to order dinner there was a choice of some chicken (yuck, I never order chicken!!) or Filet Mignon AND Lobster! SCORE!!

Salad with nuts and pears
Italian Wedding Soup
Sorbet
Dinner - Lobster, Filet, Amazing green beans, and twice baked potato
Desert - Wedding Cake, Baked Alaska, AMAZING Apple Crumb cheesecake, Raspberry Swirl cheesecake, and some chocolatey cheesecake... thats what I scored off of the dessert table! It was pretty unreal how many cakes, pies, cookies, pastries there were to choose from.  The Apple cheesecake was probably a top 5 dessert ever for me.
Take home - Candy table

THEN, as if that wasnt enough food, at a lil before 1 there was MORE... wings, pizza, sliders... I honestly couldnt even walk over to the drunk food table because I, for once, was beyond stuffed! It was a beautiful, fancy wedding, and was a perfect way to spend New Years Eve!!

Resolutions

1. Stop eating fast food. Its not that I eat a lot of it, but I do eat it.  The one thing that absolutely scares me is that they bleach the burger meat and chicken meat with AMMONIA.... for real.  Now, normally this wouldn't affect my way of thinking (gross, right), but I currently have a human growing in my belly.  Everything affects my baby.  With all of these children getting cancer, ADD, or autism.... I mean... this shit has to come from somewhere.  I think it comes from all of the fast food, packaged food, and crap food.  I try my best to eat not out of a package, but sometimes its just so hard!! Anyway, resolution #1 is stop eating ammonia.

2. Keep in touch with family and friends.  I have definitely lost touch with a lot of family and friends recently, just due to being tired and having plenty of things to do at home, with mikayla, or for Pete's job.  I love the people in my life and want to keep them in it.

3.  Spend more time with Mikayla.  This has always been a resolution, since she was born!! By spending more time "with her" I mean actually getting down on the floor and playing Barbies, or painting, etc., instead of being preoccupied or doing something else (like blogging).

I feel like for this year, this is enough!! I think I'm healthy enough and I'm not exactly motivated to go to the gym an work out.  I think I might start snowshoeing instead of skiing when we go to Gore on Saturdays, this way I can still be with my family but exercise as well! I already ate y big bowl of homemade chili... I put a dollop of sour cream on it and melted a bunch of cheddar cheese, then added Tostitos to make nachos.  Looks like another helping of this yummy, stick-to-your-ribs meal is in my future tonight!

Calamari Salad

I found this dish created by Giada on http://www.foodnetwork.com/.  It is definitely a great dish to make and bring to a big function... but it made a ton more than I had expected!!

I started by preheating the oven to 450.  I peeled and de-tailed my shrimp, laid it on a glass pan, drizzled it with olive oil, salt, pepper and spices, and baked for 10 minutes.  Its honestly the best way in the world to make shrimp... just make sure you buy the gray ones :P

I was a little nervous to cook Calamari because I had never attempted it before... I always left it up to my mother.  I boiled a pot of water and threw in the Calamari, whole, without cutting it.  I boiled it for 10 minutes and took it out, then proceeded to slice it into rings.  I mixed the cut calamari with the whole shrimp and added about 3 cups of arugula and 1 can of Cannelli Beans.  While the oven was still on, I cut up eggplant and zucchini into tiny squares and roasted them the same way I made the shrimp, but for about 30 minutes.

I cooked 1 cup of Orzo pasta and also mixed it.  I also cut up some fresh parsley and 2 small tomatoes and threw them in for color.  After everything was mixed together in a huge mixing bowl, I made the dressing which consisted of lemon juice, olive oil, Apple Cider Vinegar and Balsamic.  I don't really measure those, I just take a 1-cup measuring up, pour a lot of apple cider vinegar in it, almost fill the rest of the cup with olive oil, and top it off with Balsamic.  Then I just pour over the salad and mix. 

It seems like a lot of work, but it is actually a simple dish that surprises a lot of people... the people who like seafood will thoroughly enjoy this dish!!

1 cup orzo pasta
1/2 lb calamari, unchopped
1/2 lb shrimp,gray!
2 zucchini, chopped into tiny squares
1/2 eggplant, chopped into tiny squares
2 tomatoes, chopped
 1 15 oz Cannelli Beans
3 cups Arugula
basil leaves

parsley

2 lemons, juiced

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup Apple cider Vinegar

Balsamic Vinegar



This recipe is linked here Meatless Mondays Just another Meatless Monday Mouthwatering Mondays, Meatless Mondays