Of food, birthdays, and new beginnings ...

It's been a fun few weeks.  My boss was on vacation for 2 weeks, so since January we've worked a modified schedule that included 5 weeks of NO SATURDAYS!!!  What does that mean for the Bishop family?  Road trips!  We've enjoyed jaunts to San Fran, Mt Diablo State Park, little Nor Cal Sierra Mountain towns, and even Nevada twice.

Hollywood/Downtown Disney

Shelter Cove, WAY north CA in Humboldt County

San Francisco

Mt Diablo State Park

Somewhere on the way to Nevada

It is so nice to spend time together as a family, even if it is 6  hours in a car.  Kody may sleep and "screen time"a bit, but David and I talk and take in the scenery.  I'm so excited that my family is FINALLY going to make it out here for Colton's birth; I'm torn about trying to figure out places for them to go b/c not only will I have a fresh, days old newborn, I will also be recovering from major surgery.  I've conveniently forgotten what 'recovery' was like, so I may be down and out!  We have a DATE!  Our little Mav will enter the world on April 1st, some time between 8:30 and 9:00 in the morning.  Assuming everything goes as planned.

For my birthday, I made the decision to buy tickets to a concert.  We haven't 'done' a concert since Labor Day weekend in 2011.  It was an ALL day concert that day.  We went to the "Rock and Worship Road Show" at Sleep Train Arena and it was AWESOME.  We sprung for VIP tickets which got us entry to the venue 3 hours early; as a result, our seats were PERFECT!  IMO, seats can definitely make or break a concert!  Got to see our favorite, Jeremy Camp, and got to take in the amazingness that is a Newsboys concert.  WOW!  They were of course the 2 headlining acts and they were amazing.   Well worth the wait.  The best part of the night was when Kody had a real moment of worship and humbleness during a Jeremy song; I think the words and the meaning really reached out and touched my boy, and I'm so thankful he got to experience that.  Waving our hands in the air and singing aloud praising God was really a fun time.

Newsboys

The menu has had some yummy food on it lately!  I've made quite a few recipes that are very tasty; I honestly think I've been scared to cook w/ "real food" in the past.  My menus have been comprised pretty much entirely of frozen meats, hamburger helper, and processed meals.  I feel much better cooking w/ real, whole foods and meats.  I'm nowhere near the chef my sister is, but at least I'm branching out and "growing up" lol.  Here's a few winners:
Spicy Shrimp Sandwiches  Made these tonight.  I did NOT make the home made avocado chipotle mayo; I just used Kraft chipotle mayo.  These turned out AMAZING!  Picky picky son that turns his nose up at shrimp said they were AWESOME, so win!

Cheeseburger Casserole  This was actually surprisingly good!  I used ground turkey and whole wheat rotini, turned out great.

No boil manicotti  I loved how simple this dish was!  I simplified by using just the jarred sauce, no meat in it.  I also subbed ricotta cheese for the cottage cheese.  Much easier to pipe in the cheese to hard noodles vs. soft, cooked noodles.  They turned out really good, not hard or chewy at all in the crockpot.

Parmesan meatloaf  This one was a big hit w/ the hubs!  Pretty easy and VERY tasty.  Again, I used only ground turkey.

Spiced pot roast  I bought an entire six pack of Guiness beer for this recipe since you can't just buy one 12 oz bottle from the grocery store.  It was good, but I think would be very well suited for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Sweet potatoes would be a very good side dish w/ this one.  Definitely a different and interesting flavor.  One of the comments said it was "very bitter", but I didn't experience that at all.

Cashew Chicken  This one was a bit of a let down for me.  My mouth was literally watering as I prepared it b/c it looked SO good.  My problem was the breading on the chicken; I dipped it in the corn starch and only used cooking spray in my pan instead of the oil b/c I didn't want it to be greasy at all.  The breading ended up soaking up most of the sauce so it turned out very dry.  Even the cashews couldn't save it for me.  If I make it again, I'll probably do more sauce, and I may just brown the chicken w/ NO corn starch.  Even the overall taste seemed a little off to me, so not sure if I'll try it again.

That's it for now!  I'll be working pretty much the entire month of March, and then it's 8 weeks of new baby time.  We've been trying to get everything set up and ready for his arrival a bit at the time.  Getting a little nervous, but getting excited too.

New and from big brother

FOOD!

I know we all get a little stagnant and stale with our food routine; I have a facebook friend that shares her meal plan for the week and it can be REALLY helpful!  I'm not quite organized enough to actually PLAN the sides, but I find that once I've made a plan and a shopping list, the accompanying dishes aren't as difficult to figure out.

I REALLY wish my boys would branch out and be a little more vegetable ambitious.  I'm NOT willing to make different meals for us, so even though I try to be as healthy as possible, my menu is not exactly always "skinny", "organic", "vegan", or "low" anything.

Heck, it's a huge accomplishment to have graduated from fast food 5 nights a week to cooking 4 nights a week with 3 of those being processed/box meals to actually COOKING real food 6 nights a week.  And we don't do leftovers for DINNER.  I save leftovers and that feeds me lunch occasionally, but we don't do them for another dinner night.

So, without further ado, I am going to attempt to do a weekly blog post with my week's meal plan for those that may be struggling to figure out what they can cook.  If I can, I'll post the link; the majority of my recipes come from Pinterest.  The following is this past weeks's food.

*Broiled fish ( I normally use Target's Swai fillets, but my Sac one has been OUT for over a month :(  Used Cod this time, and didn't care for the flavor of the fish.  This recipe is one of my favorites, though, and I thought the parmesan cheese was a nice touch at the end.
Broiled fish  LOVE this recipe, I sprinkle the seasoning on both sides of the fish.  This time, I added a little sprinkle of shredded parmesan cheese for the last 2 minutes of broiling time.  That was the ONLY thing that made the cod edible.

*No boil chicken alfredo.  LOVE this recipe!  It also works beautifully with shrimp; I just buy a bag of the large precooked from Target and skip the part where I cook them in a pan.
One pan chicken alfredo

*Brats. No recipe needed here.  I buy the low fat cheese ones, slap them on the George Foreman for 6 minutes, and slap them on a whole wheat weenie bun!
Johnsonville brats

*Pancakes.  Made these last night.  SO good!  Subbed a 1/2 tsp of Allspice instead of a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and the flavor was SO yummy.  We don't do maple syrup in our house, I actually love plain old sugar free syrup.  Saved time making them after work by mixing up my dry ingredients ahead of time.
Vanilla cinnamon buttermilk pancakes

*Pork sandwiches with home made BBQ sauce.  This turned out really well, I was surprised at myself!  First time trying out this recipe and it was a winner.
BBQ pork sandwiches

*Broccoli Beef.  My favorite!  LOVE this recipe, I would eat it 3 nights a week if I could.  WAY better than Panda Express and so, so easy.
Broccoli Beef

Hope this is helpful!  I have SO many recipes on Pinterest pinned that I haven't gotten around to trying yet ... I will post as I finally DO try them :)  Oh, and GO BRONCOS!!!

Recipe musings and a little more

Life is marching on.  I'm SO thankful for the sequence of events that helped me to find a new chiropractor.  I had the BEST chiro out in GA (Essential Healing Chiropractic in Woodstock), and when I moved out here to Cali I waited for a long time before I decided to seek out a new one.  Don't get me wrong, he's probably good for a LOT of people, but I was just finding myself still experiencing a fair amount of pain even after adjustments.

A few weekends ago, we were at a car show and there was a booth set up in the trade fair portion.  I stopped in and spoke to the doctor and asked whether she deals with applied kinesiology and she said she does.  SOLD!  I went last week for chronic, constant headaches I'd been having for about 6 weeks (and DESPITE an adjustment w/ the other chiro).  This is NOT a good thing to have happening when ALL you can take for said headaches is Tylenol which does NOTHING!  One adjustment, fixed.  Went for a follow up today and got my first ever massage before my adjustment and it was divine!  They combine chiro and massage for optimum results and I give it 2 thumbs up :)  Twin Creeks Chiropractic in Roseville is AMAZING!

On to the food portion!  I've been scouring Pinterest as usual and tried a few more new recipes.  ALL wins :)  I made a Shepherd's Pie, and last night fixed up a pork roast to make pulled pork sandwiches.  I've found an interesting guide to help w/ weekly food choices; hubs often complains about "chicken AGAIN?"

So now it's chicken/pork/beef/pasta/veggie/seafood each night and after 1 week the menu was a hit!  Makes it imperative to plan for the weekly shopping trip, but it's better when you do that anyway.  That article I read was actually touting monthly shopping trips for groceries, but I just don't have the storage capacity (apartment) to handle that much food at once.  So, I'll just utilize what pertains to me and move on!

Feeling good, no sickness knock on wood.  Next appt is Nov when we find out whether boy/girl.  I don't care either way, I just want HEALTHY.

Just plugging along

I have no intention of joining a gym.  The money I'm spending doesn't motivate me to show up.  I paid for a gym for 3 years ... for the first 6 months, I went about twice a week.  The 2nd 6 months, about once a week.  The next year, about once a month.  The final year ... maybe 6 times total.  It's just a matter of DOING it.  I have workouts ... Piyo, Insanity, T25, and good 'ol jogging right outside my apartment; all I have to do is get UP and WORK.  Today, I did it.  Sweated my butt off, ate a yummy lunch pretty much identical to the one pictured in the last blog post, and came home and had some AMAZING home made broccoli beef and orange chicken.  On Saturday, not only were there GIANT donuts from one of our hygienists, one of the DA's went to McD's and bought everyone a chicken sandwich.  I said thanks but no thanks and enjoyed my same lunch I had today :D
Yesterday was a bit of a "cheat" day.  Had some amazing home made ice cream (only 1 scoop) in a waffle cone.  I enjoy food.  I enjoy trying out new places for treats.  It's all about the portion control, and the NOT eating it every DAY that's important.  Tomorrow, I will get up and sweat again.  I will watch what I eat and pray that those tight pants loosen up a little, and my over-inflated "girls" shrink back down to a manageable size.  I will scour Pinterest for healthy, clean eating recipes, and I will try to cram more veggies into my diet.  I will continue to tell sugar to "bite me", and I WILL prevail once again ... this time for good.  MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Useful Pinterest stuff, part 2!

I will continue to post these updates as I do more cool stuff via Pinterest!  I'm telling ya, it's amazing how easy some of the tricks are, and how much time/effort they save.  I've only got a hand full of things this time, but trust me ... they're worth knowing!

1.   Cleaning your George Foreman Grill!  I've read this also works with a waffle iron.  Simply place a damp paper towel on the grill after you're finished using it, and close the lid.  That's it, walk away for several hours.  The damp towel acts like a steam cleaner, and when you open up your cooled grill, ALL the nasty, cooked on gunk is wet and ready to come off.  I use the wet paper towel to scrape the softened yuck off the grill, then clean it up with a dry paper towel.  Clean!  Perfect!  My plates DO detach and I can put them in the washer, but I feel like the dishwasher strips off the non stick surface, so I try to clean it up without running it through the washer.

2.  Tying your running shoes in such a way as to eliminate heel slippage.  I made my very own Pinterest pin using this blog!  Here it is: http://yourenotgettingyounger.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-keep-your-shoes-from-sliding-up.html

3.  Freshening up your garbage disposal.  I've lived in my apartment for 3 months now, and have noticed an occasional less than fresh odor wafting up from the disposal side every now and then.  My only extra word of advice to this pin is to slice up your citrus fruit small before dropping it in (I used a lime).  I put it in cut in half like the article suggested, and my disposal didn't grind up the peel.  When I put in a small, quarter sized piece, it "ate" the whole thing.  http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-clean-yo-2-136771

4.  This recipe for sweet potato souffle is so fabulous!  It was light and fluffy, sweet and savory, but way lighter calorie wise than your typical Thanksgiving side dish.    http://www.marthastewart.com/331745/maple-whipped-sweet-potatoes

5.  Home made brownies.  SO good!  http://afewshortcuts.com/2012/05/homemade-brownie-mix/

6.  Finally ... I confess, I haven't actually done this one yet, but I'm sure it will work well:  http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/06/how-to-clean-and-shine-your-microwave.html

Please feel free to share any pins that work great for you!  Comment on the blog, or shoot me an email at dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com