Christmas Recap Part 2

A couple of days after Christmas I set off for Christmas #2 or #3 or #4 depending on how you're counting, in Memphis with my parents and brother. There was more food, more relaxing, a puzzle (of course), and even a trip to IKEA! Unfortunately Eric had to coach a wrestling match that weekend so he had to stay behind for practice and the match.

Jones Family Christmas pic 2017

I am pretty sure LG and Maggie had the most fun of any of us while we were there. They played constantly, to the point that they both slept the entire day after we left.

And still shots of them were next to impossible to get (the dogs, not Mom and Dad)

Maggie taught LG how to dig holes and then got mad because 

all LG wanted to do was dig said holes.

Mom got a new cookbook for Christmas so she and Matt made quick work of trying out a few new recipes.  The Banana Roll was the winner....think pumpkin roll but made with banana bread....YUM!

Perfecting the roll

Top: the finished product; Bottom: Cheesecake Factory dessert one day included Vanilla Bean, Godiva Chocolate, Red Velvet, and Tiramisu cheesecake slices. 

Of course no trip to Memphis is complete without a trip to the Three Dog Bakery.  Since Maggie gets to go often, she begrudgingly let us take just Peanut and LG.  They're becoming pros at the bakery.  They jumped out of the car and ran right up to the door like they knew exactly what we were there for. Treats....duh!

 Getting their complementary treats.

LG said we were taking too long so she laid down to start on her bone.

 Side note - I found the winning combination for driving long distances with dogs: new bones + a 45 minute walk prior to leaving.  They didn't get restless until we were about 30 minutes from home.

Another highlight of the trip was our outing to the IKEA store.  I've only been to an IKEA once so I was pretty excited to go back.  We found a few things we could not live without (many we had no idea we needed), but one of my favorites were kitchen drawers that you can open with your hip (or knee if your tall like my family)....they were pretty amazing.

I am ready to schedule my kitchen remodel like yesterday....but we can't do white cabinets. Keeping those suckers clean with 4 dogs in the house??? Ain't nobody got time for that!

Minus Eric not being there, it was the perfect ending to our Christmases.  I packed up the pups on New Years Eve and headed back to Alabama because we had NYE plans that actually didn't involve a large group of people at our house.....(that never happens!)...I promise to have a full recap on that soon!

Mom and Dad's tree is the tree that keeps on giving (yes it's decorated with Lottery Tickets!)

November Recap: Football, Thanksgiving, and Gum Grafts

To say that the month of November was a whirlwind was a complete and total understatement.  I actually realized on Dec 1 that I made it the entire month without working a single Friday, not that I was complaining at all.....but that first 5-day week in more than an month was rough.  Actually having to come back to work on Monday after only 2 days off was probably worse than having to work 5 days last week, just saying.

Coach Cagle getting the boys ready to go.

I have lots to recap, so let start where we left off October.  Football season went out with a bang.  We ended the regular season 9-1, and headed into the playoffs with a 2 seed in the region.  After a thrilling OT win where we got a huge goal line stop (the only time we stopped them all night on 4th and 1) and kicked a field goal to win, we ran into a giant brick wall dressed like high school football players. The team we faced in the second round was the biggest team we had ever seen, and our kids came up short (literally). 

We were so sad to see the season end because it really was a special one, but as all good things do, this season did as well.  This team was only the third team in school history to win 10 games, so this team had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.  They'll go down in the ole THS football history books as one of the best to come through.

The field was stormed my a mob of kids after the 1st round win....BTW he kicked it on the other end of the field and made it to the 30 on the other side before the rest of the team caught up with him and tackled him.

We closed up the season just in time for our Turkey Day Holiday.  Thankfully I was able to partake.  I had 2 gum grafts done the first week in November that seriously hampered my eating abilities (and kicked off my pre-holiday diet), for a few weeks.  It's kind of hard to explain without getting too graphic but basically, they cut 2 pieces of gum from the roof of my mouth and sewed them to my gums that were receding on the outside. I didn't get any good pics of the bottom because I was instructed not to pull on my lip so all you get is the view of the roof of my mouth where the took the pieces of my gums....

The first picture is 10 days post gum removal. I had no idea what it looked like prior to this because they put a layer of connective tissue glue (superglue for your mouth) over it so my tongue would not hit the stitches.  The second picture is 14 days post procedure.  I was completely shocked at the improvement that was made in that short amount of time and was extremely thankful I could not see what it looked like at the beginning.  I have a feeling it would not have been pretty. 

My periodontist told me the graphs on my bottom teeth looked like Franken-mouth due to the mass of stitches involved. I was down for a few days but never had major issues. I'd heard horror stories about recovery from the procedure, but I was never in excruciating pain. I'll chalk it up to 48 straight hours on the couch and a liquid diet that meant minimal movement in my mouth.

My two takeaways from the entire ordeal were 1) I never realized how much my tongue hits the roof of my mouth: talking, swallowing, eating....it's constant, and more importantly 2) It is possible to brush your teeth too hard.  This is why I had to have the procedure done.  However I highly recommend having it done as a preventative measure rather than waiting until you start losing bone and getting infection....I've heard that's part of what can make it so bad.

I went back the Friday before Thanksgiving to get my stitches out and then went immediately to Publix and bought a Thanksgiving Turkey Sub, which I promptly took home and cut up into pieces to eat.  It was soooooo good. I'm basically recovered now.

Turkey Day 2017

Our Thanksgiving was full of turkey and family time with all of Eric's family.  We all headed over to his grandma's house for turkey and every Thanksgiving side you could think of.  I think I cooked less for this Thanksgiving than any other I have as an adult.  When I called Eric's grandma to ask what we could bring I was told buttermilk pie before I could even finish my question.....his grandma LOVES my buttermilk pie.  By the end of the conversation we were in charge of frying the turkeys and I had also volunteered to make Oyster Stuffing....I won't touch the stuff, but Eric loves it.  The things we do for love... 

Somehow we managed to leave with more food than we came with.  I wasn't complaining though because I think thanksgiving leftovers might be my favorite meal.  I ate turkey sandwiches topped with cranberry relish on Sister Schubert's dinner rolls for the next several days.

Obligatory plate pic.....I was just a bit excited to get to eat this. 

I headed out early Friday morning, as usual to check out the Black Friday Deals.  I refuse to go on Thanksgiving Day but I love heading out around 6AM on Friday...the crowds from the night before are gone and everyone else is still sleeping off their turkey comas so the stores are only moderately crowded and the lines are not bad at all.  I made it through one mall before meeting Eric's Mom and the other mall.  We hit up a couple places before she headed back to her house and I stayed around to try to go a few more places, but it was starting to get crowded so I headed home myself.

I'd love to say that was the end of our grand holiday weekend, but it wasn't....not even close, but that's a post for another day....

Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts....a kids worst nightmare, but a foodie's tiny morsel of deliciousness....when cooked right.  I grew up hating them, but it turns out that steaming them, cutting them open, and jamming a pat of butter between them like an ice cream sandwich is not the way to do sprouts. Now this isn't to say that I would have eaten then any other way as a child either, but I know I would not repeat that knowing how delicious they can be.

I have tried a couple of roasted and sauteed Brussels sprouts (yes it's capitalized because they're named after the city) and have been pleasantly surprised.  So when Mom and I were visiting my brother a couple of weekends ago in Wisconsin and he took us to brunch at a local joint called Houdini's and I spotted them on the menu I had to give them a try.

They were amazing! And because I can't just eat a good side dish and be done with it, I decided to recreate it.

*based on the Brussels sprouts appetizer from Houdini's Escape Gastropub

What You Need

6 slices thick cut bacon, crumbled

1lb Brussels Sprouts, quartered or halved

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup 100% pure maple syrup

1/2 cup Buffalo Sauce (I used Moore's)

2 Tbsp butter

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

How to Make It

1) Cook bacon in a skillet. I chopped my bacon into thirds and cooked it all at once, so they'd all fit in the skillet. When bacon is crispy, remove from pan, but leave the drippings.

2) Saute Brussels sprouts in bacon dripping over medium high heat, adding just a pinch of salt and pepper. When sprouts are tender and begin to char, they are ready. This takes 10-12 minutes.

3) While the bacon and sprouts are cooking, prepare the sauce: Combine maple syrup, buffalo sauce, butter, and brown sugar in a small saucepan, and heat to a boil, stirring frequently. Once the mixture begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium low and simmer 3-4 minutes. I let mine sit on the stove on very low heat until it was time to mix it all together.

4) Once your sauce, sprouts, and bacon are ready, you can assemble the dish. Place the Brussels sprouts in a serving dish. Pour sauce over the sprouts and mix until they're completely coated. Top with bacon and Gorgonzola cheese and serve immediately.

For anyone who is wary of the spiciness, it's not spicy at all.  The maple syrup and butter balance out what little heat the buffalo sauce provides and you're left with delicious and very complementary flavors!

I'd love to be able to say that I nailed this recipe on my first try but as you can see, that was not the case. I was not thinking about it when I was purchasing my ingredients, and bought a bottle of hot sauce, NOT buffalo sauce. As they tell you in elementary school, some things are alike, but they are most certainly the same. Buffalo sauce and hot sauce are prime examples.  Let's just say that my first attempt was way too spicy for Eric to even try.  Luckily I had the presence of mind to not pour it on the Brussels sprouts immediately, and thank goodness there is a Walmart 2 minutes from our house! It was $12 well spent to get some buffalo sauce and another bottle of maple syrup (because I used the entire 1st bottle trying to de-spicy the hot sauce concoction). Live and learn....

...and laugh at yourself on Snapchat!

Weekend Recap: Staying In

It's Monday and back to the grind this AM. I am really hoping that this week is an improvement over last week.  I felt like I was in the twilight zone with Eric being gone most of the week. I knew it was going to be rough as we are still trying to get Beau on a schedule, but he ended up being the least of my worries. Both Hawk and Peanut had some pretty gnarly stomach issues which resulted in the house getting cleaned every day last week.....it was rough to say the least. Poor Hawk had his stomach issues on Tuesday and somehow ended up tweaking his bad leg so he was down for the count the remainder of the week.  He was feeling better on Friday and convinced his puppy letter-outer to let him swim, but I am afraid he overdid it so he was pretty pathetic all weekend. Peanut on the other hand was good to go until Wednesday when his issues started, and culminated with a trip to the vet Friday morning.  I'm happy to report that he is feeling much better, but I am not sure he's forgiven me for the gastrointestinal rest (AKA nothing to eat) the vet had him on until Sunday. All he got to eat on Saturday was rice, so by Sunday when I was able to mix in some real food he was ravenous! To be honest , it was so stinkin' hot outside I really didn't mind staying in.

I had some veggies from the garden that needed some attention before they went bad, so I did some canning on Saturday afternoon. I did my favorite Refrigerator Dill Pickles, Eric's favorite pickled okra, and tried out a new recipe for pickled banana peppers.  I'll let you know how the latter two turn out in a month or so.

The fruits...or should I say vegetables of my labor! All from our backyard garden!

I occupied my evenings with movies: Sisters, Inside Out, and Paper Towns. All great movies....what I didn't expect though was for inside out to make me tear up! I know it's a kids movie, but wow it had some stuff in there that really tugs at your heart strings!

L to R: 1) My finger doubled as a fantastic pacifier for Beau taking a nap. 2) Friday night dinner of Champions! 3) My poor sweet Hawk not feeling so hot.

Beau did his best to keep us all entertained, which was not hard to do.  That baby is a hot mess! He had me laughing all weekend. I did learn that he has a very low tolerance for sleeping in. I didn't put a movie on until after 9PM on Friday because I didn't want to be a lame-o who went to bed at 10 on a Friday, so I ended up eventually drifting off to sleep around midnight and turned off my alarm.  Little did I know that a small brown alarm would be sounding at his usual morning going outside time: 6AM. Of course after he came in, he wanted to eat, and then he wanted to play! Hawk and Peanut shared my sentiments of wanting to go back to sleep so the three of us vegged on the couch for another couple of hours while Beau transported nearly the entire contents of the toy basket to the dog bed in the living room....

King Beau and his loyal subjects

Needless to say, we were all ecstatic when Eric got home around lunchtime Sunday afternoon. We were even more ecstatic when a little storm cloud came rolling in and brought us a brief evening of relief from the heat. It was nice enough I took the little dogs on a walk to run some of Beau's excessive energy out! He was still ready to go when we came back so we played fetch in the yard for another half hour....and success! He fell fast asleep in Eric's lap when we came inside!

We capped off our Sunday evening with BLTs (BLPs for me!) and watch the Olympic Trials! I can't believe that the Olympics is just a few weeks away! I can't wait!

Here's to a cleaner, less stressful week!

Weekend Recap: It Summered

Yes I realize I made up that word just now but that's the best way to describe what happened this weekend: it summered outside. And in response? We summered right back.

Clockwise from top left: 1) Summer pretties from Costco 2) Spicy Pimento Grilled Cheese on a Hawaiian Roll...aka the most worth it diet ruiner ever created. 3) Baby Knox and I at the birthday party on Sunday....and the giant water slide in the background. 4) Fried okra grown in the garden by yours truly.

After a crazy busy 24 hours to start the weekend: I had dance team tryouts Friday night and hosted my P.E.O. group on Saturday morning (both of which went wonderfully!),  I was completely pooped. Eric was off fishing in a tournament so I decided the best course of action would be to layout/swim in the pool. One problem, it was absolutely, positively miserable outside. I'm talking actual temps over 100 degrees with heat indices nearing 110....in June. You see the weather decided to "summer", like "Dog Days of Summer" that we usually don't get until August....in JUNE. I know I know, the pool seems like the logical solution, but it was just so stinkin hot and I really didn't want to mess with sticky sunscreen that I was going to have to reapply 1000 times because that's approximately how many times I'd have to get in the pool....so I told the pups we were going to stay inside in the AC for a little while and took a nap on the couch instead....they didn't object.

Around 4, when the heat index had gone down to a mere 100 we ventured out.  The sun was just started to go behind the trees in the backyard, so it was perfect.  Eric got home about an hour later and our neighbors came over and we all played in the pool like with the kids until we were hungry.

Hawk in his happy place and Peanut checking out the corn in the garden.

Sunday we were up early, I headed to church and Eric headed over to his friend's house to help put up a fence.  I honestly don't think they could have picked a hotter weekend for it. I stopped by after church and brought them some cold Gatorade and waters because I am a nice thoughtful person and had nothing to do with me being nosy and wanting to see how the fence looked.....promise. While the guys finished up the fence I headed to a friend's child's birthday party, complete with a blow up water slide.  It was awesome. I seriously considered going down it, but decided against it because I really didn't want to have to drive home in wet clothes. I know lame. I am sure it would have been a lot cooler if I had because Sunday's heat was a carbon copy of Saturday's heat.

I left the party dry and went straight home to get in our pool because that's the best way I know how to summer.  Once again we swam until we got hungry. Luckily we had some leftover Boston Butt from Saturday, and some okra from the garden that needed to be cooked. I chopped them up, and we fried them along with some banana peppers and there was not a single okra piece or banana pepper ring left. I am super excited that the garden is starting to produce some veggies! Now if it would just cool off a little I could get out and finish weeding it so I can take pictures of it to share.

Side note: is it okra pieces or okra pods or okras or what? I've asked several people and have no clear answer and it makes for extremely awkward conversations when trying to tell people how much okra I had to use up.

I do have to brag on Eric for just a minute....He and a buddy fished a tournament on a river that Eric hasn't fished in nearly 20 years and they finished 3rd out of 22 boats!

I promise he was excited...I guess he was trying to be a serious fisherman.

So yeah, that's how we summered this weekend.  It was pretty fantastic.  I am hoping we get to do the same again this coming weekend. BTW we replaced our pool liner the week we left for the beach so this is really the first weekend we've been able to enjoy the pool this year! Whatcha think??  We love it!

Just so you know it had not been cleaned in the before picture...hence the booger green color of the water. 

Black and White Chicken Chili

After nearly a week of really spring-like weather (enough to make some of our neighbors take their pool cover off - they're still pool amateurs so we forgive them), we were smacked in the face by some very cold and windy weather yesterday. Ah the joys of spring. Because my world revolves around food and meal times, I already had a warm cozy dinner planned. I don't play about my food - I ended up quite hangray yesterday afternoon on my dog walk because I was starving. Luckily I had time to scarf down a granola bar before we went to the gym and it saved me from going all Incredible Hulk on Eric. He married a charmer, what can I say?!

When I was meal planning this weekend I decided to look outside of my normal recipe rotation, and came across an old chili recipe my mom gave me years ago. I honestly have no idea where she got it from, but it's been loved for sure.

I've made it strictly from the recipe before and it's delicious, but decided to tweak it just a bit because I had a little more chicken than it called for and I'm not a super huge fan of beans for a couple of reasons: 1) I think they taste like chalk and 2) I'm not a fan of musical fruits - coughEriccough. I also cut the actual quantity of chili down by not adding all of the beans, so we had just enough chili for both of us to have a bowl and have one bowl of leftovers. Since neither of us are big leftover eaters, I try to make things that don't make too much. So here you go, my spin on Black and White Chicken Chili.

What You Need: 

3 cups cooked chicken breasts, cubed 

1 can of Great Northern Beans UNdrained

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

16 oz chicken broth

1 cup chopped sweet onion

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 fresh jalapeno, diced

1 packet McCormick's White Chick Chili

salt and pepper to taste

How to Make It:

Combine all of the ingredients in a pot. It will easily fit into a 5 quart pot, and you could go a little smaller if you'd like.

Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes or until heated through.

Serve with sour cream, grated cheese, and crackers for garnish.

Yes it it that easy to make, and if you were to cook the chicken and cut everything the day before it would be even easier. I cooked my chicken before we went to workout so it maybe took another 5-10 minutes to chop/prep the rest of it. I just dumped it all into the pot as I went and then turned the heat on and let it go.

It's good all by itself, but it's even better when you add the crackers and cheese and sour cream because those three things alone make the world a happier place.

 Big ole bite comin' at-cha!

If you're interested, this is the original and as you can see it has been loved over the years. 

Enjoy!

Weekend Recap: Sweethearts Weekend

Ahh Valentine's Weekend, you've come and gone again. Valentine's has always been a bit tricky at our house because of when it falls: less than a week before my birthday and barely 3 weeks after Eric's birthday. Needless to say we don't always go all out for it. This year we actually ended up having our "Valentine's" dinner last night. Whoops. Such is life. But before you jump our cases about it, just know that we were quite busy doing lots of other fun things......

We went our separate ways on Friday and it worked out perfectly. Eric spent the afternoon/evening at the high school wrestling sectional tournament watching the kids he coaches. While I spent the evening at the dance studio doing hair/makeup test runs for competition before we sent the mommas home and kept the girls for a dance team sleepover. I forgot how giddy girls get over sleepovers. I'm pretty sure we had a 4 hour dance party and they never got tired of it. Our dance team has grown a bit this year, as we've added a "mini" group and a few other younger dancers to the mix. The party was a huge success got me even more excited about our first competition in a few weeks. We have our dress rehearsal this weekend where they get to practice their routines on stage in their costumes and I can't wait!

Little dancers playing DJ

I made treat bags for the girls and put quotes on them....of course! Inside were little treats with corresponding sayings on them.

I hate to admit it, but I ended up leaving the party early on Friday. I had to be in Montgomery early on Saturday for P.E.O. so I told the other teachers good luck and headed home around 11. I fully intended to heading to bed as soon as I got home, but Eric had rented The Martian, and I've really wanted to watch it, so I gave it a try to see if it could hold my attention that late. Spoiler alert (not really): It did, and I think we finally crawled into bed around 1:30AM. Ugh. The movie is fantastic, though! I highly recommend it.

Despite our late bedtime, I still had to be up bright and early Saturday morning for my meeting, which was fun as always. After a quick grocery store run, I made it home and back into my sweats for an afternoon on the couch. I finally pried myself up for a puppy walk after a couple of hours, and we ended the evening with dinner at some friends' house, playing revolving DJ and singing along to every song that came on.

I got up on Valentine's Day and made breakfast for us. It was a beautiful day so the pups got a couple of walks and I snuck in an afternoon run in my new running kicks my parents got me for my birthday. It had been nearly a year since I bought my last pair of running shoes and my feet/knees/legs were letting me know every time I went for a run. Let's just say I haven't felt that great on a run in a long time. We decided to forgo the romantic couples dinner in place of a new tradition that I really hope we continue. Since most of our friends had already done their big Valentine's dates on Friday or Saturday, we all got together Sunday night for Palentine's Dinner (I came up with that all on my own on Sunday....and yes I'm proud of it). It had literally been 6 weeks since we'd gotten together with our football watching crew and we'd all really been missing each other. We've all been busy with life and just haven't had time to do anything. I'm not saying it's been a while but since we were all together on New Years, one couple got married and other one got engaged....out of 4 couples! Lot's of life changes going on around these parts. =) And I'm ashamed to admit I took exactly 0 pictures of our Palentine's Dinner. Another reason we have to do it again next year. =)

Yesterday Eric was back to work but I had the day off...a big thank you to 2 of our Founding Fathers and fellow February birthday buddies George Washington and Thomas Jefferson for providing state and federal workers with President's Day. I took advantage of my day off and got some S*#T done. I tackled the clothes in our closet and now have 3 bags of clothes and a bag of shoes to donate. I also decided to be an adult and swapped out all of my mismatched hangers for slimline hangers and I have so much more space now. I'm embarrassed at how many articles of clothing I "found" that I didn't even know were missing. It's amazing how much better I feel after I purge clothes, and it always shocks me how much I am willing to get rid of....this coming from someone who hates to throw things away because of emotional attachments. I have to catch myself in a mood like I was in yesterday and toss, toss, toss!

 I know you can't tell very well from the pictures but in the before picture, my clothes took up nearly the entire top now. Now they only take up about 2/3 of it. 

I think the biggest change here is that I eliminated the pile of clothing that's sitting under the hanging clothes, in addition to the deletion of several items that haven't been worn in a few years. 

This little booger "helped" by taking a very long nap on my sweaters. 

We finished up the evening with our Valentine's Dinner....Finally! I bought some fresh tuna steaks for us on Friday and was afraid they were going to go bad if we didn't cook them last night. I pan seared them and turned my kitchen into a training ground for firefighters. No, there were no flames and no danger. I forgot how the kitchen fills with smoke when I try to pan sear sesame seed coated fish on very high heat. It was bad enough I had to open all the doors and windows in the kitchen and still couldn't stand right next to the stove. After the coughing and gagging subsided, we enjoyed a fabulous tuna steak dinner with asparagus and a mixed green salad with (homemade) Asian Sesame Dressing. We topped it off with a tiramisu for dessert.

Oh and instead of flowers this year for Valentine's Day/My Birthday I got rocks.....

He did real good. =)

Amazing Broccoli

Yes there is such a thing. I know my 10 year old self would say it doesn't exist, but my 30 year old self says yes-huh it does. I'd seen some recipes floating around Pinterest that looks appetizing so I took those ideas and ran with them and came up with a recipe that according to Eric is "the best broccoli I've ever had." My favorite part is how easy it is to make. =)

What you Need:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

1 bunch broccoli (or in my case 1/3 of the giant bag of pre-cut broccoli from Costco)

Ruth Ann's Muskego Avenue Chicken/Fish Seasoning* (or your favorite lemon pepper seasoning)

Juice from 1/2 of a lemon

How to Make It:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a large cookie sheet/jelly roll pan with aluminum foil (This is simply so you won't have to wash the pan when you're done. Just pull the foil off the pan, throw it away, and put the pan back in the drawer).

Pour 1-2 Tbsp olive oil evenly onto foil. You can just pour it in zigzags to get some on the pan, you'll mix it all in later.

If you're using a bunch of broccoli, cut into small, bite-sized pieces and place evenly on pan (do not over lap pieces). If you're lazy lucky like me, you can just open up the bag from Costco and pour the broccoli on the pan until your pan is full.

Sprinkle salt and Ruth Ann's Muskego Avenue Chicken/Fish Seasoning evenly over broccoli. I don't measure, just use what I think would flavor it.

Squeeze juice from lemon half and pour a little more olive oil evenly over the broccoli and mix the broccoli/seasoning/oil around. I use my hands, but you can use a spatula if you'd like.

Pop the pan in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve immediately. It doesn't hurt to check it at 10 minutes, and shake the pan up just bit so the tops don't get to crispy, but it won't hurt if you don't.

To say we have enjoyed this dish is an understatement. I've made it no less than 4 times in the past 2 weeks, and Eric and I can polish off an entire pan in one sitting.

*Ruth Ann's Muskego Avenue Chicken/Fish Seasoning comes from our favorite spice store, Penzeys. The seasoning is very similar to a lemon pepper seasoning, but it's got a little bit of garlic and onion mixed in to it.  It was a freebie we tried several years ago that quickly became a staple in our house. I use it on all kinds of foods and it's fantastic on everything we've tried it on.

I paired our broccoli with a quick, easy chicken bake earlier this week. Here's a similar recipe I made a couple of years ago. I just swapped my mozzarella for Parmesan, and mushrooms for artichokes for this one because that's what I had in the fridge. =)

Cold Weather = Beefy Nacho Soup Dinner

If you live anywhere near the path of Jonas (the snowstorm, not the brothers) this past weekend, you were keenly aware of how freaking cold it was. We didn't get any snow but we had highs in the low 40s with windchills in the 20s and 30s. I realize that for my family and friends up north that's called a blustery winter day, but in these parts it's called stay inside by the fire and eat all of the warm comfort  foods you can get your hands on.

#truth

Since I am a transplant, Indiana born and bred, but raised in Tennessee, and a current resident of Alabama, I feel like I can laugh at both sides. However the pursuit of comfort foods when it's cold outside is one thing I think we can all agree on. I really wanted to make soup on Saturday to warm me up from the inside out, but I wanted something different that wouldn't take all day in the crockpot and that we'd end up having to eat for dinner and lunch for the next 5 days. This is always something I think about since it's just the 2 of us. 

Certain things I can make knowing that we will devour the entire pot (looking at you Crockpot Potato Soup), but I hate to make a crock pot of something new because neither one of us are very good leftover eaters when it comes to things we aren't wild about. The solution? Enter one of my all time favorite recipe blogs: Plain Chicken. Her recipes are among some of our favorites, including Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup, Pecan Pie Brownies, Cool Ranch Chicken Tacos, Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, and at least 100 other recipes I have pinned from her blog.  Including this newbie: 

Saturday's dinner, Beefy Nacho Soup. It was quick, easy, and absolutely delicious! Normally I don't go for beaney soups, but I left most of them in, and added a can of corn to my soup because I love corn. I topped it with some shredded cheese and Tostito's Cantina Chipotle Thins chips and it was delicious! We have one small bowl left of it that will most likely become my lunch one day this week. SO if you're looking for a quick delicious soup, you need to try this one. 

Since we've got a little bit of warmer weather this week, I am going the opposite direction for dinners this week. I'm actually going out on a limb for myself, and am making...........salmon. I'm not a fan of fishy fish (I just started eating tuna steaks last year), so salmon is a big stretch for me. We had some over Christmas at Eric's Mom's house - Eric loved it and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would - so in the spirit of eating healthy for our latest Biggest Loser Competition, I decided there's no time like the present. Wish me luck and hope I don't over cook it. This was the one warning my MIL gave me about cooking salmon - it was the only advice she had on making it so I figure it's a biggie!