This & That: Olympic Trials, Cooking, Hair and More...

It's been a while since I've had a good ole fashioned "random" post so here goes... 

1. Tomorrow, my brother-in-law is running in the OLYMPIC TRIALS! He's running the 800m in Track. He's a long shot to make it to the Olympics, but I'll cheering him on from home like crazy (the trials are in Eugene, OR and televised NBC Sports Network). We're so excited for him and proud of him!

2. On Saturday I have my company's annual party at The Edison in Downtown LA. I'm so excited to go to this venue. I hear it's amazing! The theme is 1920s and I'm not dressing up. I don't love that theme and I just did that in November.  The party should still be blast though.

3. I couple of weeks ago I put this little gift in the front seat of The Mr.'s car on a Sunday night so he'd find it on Monday morning when he got in the car to drive to work. I got the idea to do something unexpected and nice for my husband on The Dating Divas website. They have such cute ideas! He loved it.

4. The Mr. texted me this picture of our cat, Judah, the other day. I died. So cute!

5. I recently bought these Ria Summer Drink glasses from Crate and Barrel. I love how they match our house perfectly. And they are such sturdy glasses (I hate how breakable a lot of margarita glasses are).

6. I decided that I need to "pin" less and cook more from my recipe folder on Pinterest. So I made Grilled Corn Orzo Salad with Chili-Lime Vinaigrette from Iowa Girl Eats. It was AMAZING! I'll be making this again. Such a wonderful summer salad and it tastes great with Mexican beer.

7. The Mr. made Tequila Lime Chicken on his new Char-Broil Infrared Grill to go with the orzo salad. It was really good!

8. I mentioned that I cleaned out a bunch of old pictures from my parents house of me in high school and college. From the high school ones, I picked a few favorites and made this frame. It's now on my desk at home. I love seeing how little we were! I'm so lucky to still be friends with most of these girls.

9. Looking though old pictures made me want to grow my hair out. Here's a pic of me a couple of years ago with longer hair. I want it to be that length or longer again. Any tips for growing my hair out?

10. Speaking of growing my hair out, I think I need to wash and dry my hair less, which makes me think I should invest in some dry shampoo. What's your favorite dry shampoo? 

What I'm Loving Right Now

1. Mad Men Season 4
We just finished it on Netflix and it just may have been my favorite season yet. The Suitcase was one seriously amazing episode. I'm heartbroken that I have to wait so long for Season 5!

Luckily I found the amazing website, Tom and Lorenzo, that recaps the style of every episode and character. This has kept me entertained for HOURS.


2. My Book Club
My friend Kim started a real-life book club and I love it! So far we'd read Mennonite in a Little Black Dress and Cutting for Stone. I'll post reviews of them another day.

2. Fage Greek Yogurt with Fruit
I've always loved non-fat Fage Greek Yogurt, but it was always a bit plain for my taste. Then I discovered the yogurt + fruit topping combo. LOVE it. And I found it a Costco too. Double score.


3. Playing with my New Camera
I got my Cannon Rebel last week! I've been trying out a lot of the functionality and taking a lot of pictures of Judah since he's generally the only willing subject around the condo.

4. Working out to the Song, "All of the Lights" by Kanye West
I seriously put this on repeat with a couple of other upbeat new songs for my gym workouts. I don't usually listen to much Top 40 music, but for working out a lot of the current music is perfect.

5. Gina's Skinnytaste
Shoutout to Dee for introducing this to me. Turns out everyone knew about this website except me. I made this Southwestern Black Bean Salad on Monday. Yum! Perfect for Summer!

6. Long days
I love that when I get off work it's still sunny and we can dine al fresco like we've done the past couple of evenings.

7. Pacifico Beer
Is there any better Summer beer?


8. Your sweet comment on my post Tuesday
Thanks for your kind words and supportive words.

5 Easy, Healthy, "Go-To" Recipes

When I got married I was a horrible cook.

Like so horrible I could only really make spaghetti and frequently I'd screw that up too.

But about a year ago I decided to "beef" (get it? "beef!") up my cooking skills.

As part of this goal I even decided that I'd add "Learn 5 good, healthy, go-to meals" to my Baby Bucket List.

For something to be considered a "go-to" meal it has to be something I've made multiple times and have perfected. And healthy means low in calories and high in natural ingredients.

This weekend The Mr. and I remade the always amazing, and oh-so-summery Grilled Lemon Chicken with Fennel and Onion.


It was SO delish. I prepared it all and cooked the rice. Then the Mr. grilled it up. Have I mentioned that he is a grill master? He is.

If you have a BBQ you need to make this recipe this weekend. Seriously.

But in making it again I realized that I now have 5 Easy, Healthy, "Go-To" Recipes!

They are:
- Grilled Lemon Chicken with Fennel and Onion (recipe)
- Crockpot Pasta Fagioli Soup (recipe)
- Healthier PW Chicken Spaghetti (recipe)
- Gazpacho (recipe)
- Mediterranean Chicken in a foil pouch (recipe)

And as a bonus I have 4 "Go-To" side dishes:
- Kale Chips (recipe)
- Sweet Potato Wedges (recipe)
- Steamed veggies in my stainless steel waterless cookware
- Brown rice in my rice cooker

So I have my "5" recipes but I'm always looking for more. So tell me, what your favorite "easy, healthy, go-to recipes?"

Let me know and I'll pin them to pinterest foodie board!

Gazpacho Season!

I blogged last week about being excited for summer because it's "Gazpacho Season", and a few people asked for my recipe, so I've posted it here.

Gazpacho is cold summer soup that's made with ripe summer tomatoes. It's so fresh, healthy, and yummy!



Gazpacho

(Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Bride and Groom Cookbook)

Ingredients:
- 1 cucumber
- 1 red bell pepper
- 8 ripe tomatoes (NOT canned. Choose ripe romas or heirlooms or a combo!)
- 1/2 cup chopped sweet red onion
- 1 tbsp of minced garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 6 tbsp bread crumbs
- Sea salt to taste

Directions:
- Peel the cucumber and slice in half lengthwise, then scoop out any seeds with a small spoon.
- Finely dice enough cucumber to measure out 2 Tbsp, set aside and chop the rest.
- Remove the core and seeds from the bell pepper. Chop bell pepper.
- Chop enough onion for 1/2 cup.
- Chop all tomatoes.
- Combine all ingredients except the bread crumbs into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
- Stir in bread crumbs.
- Taste for salt and additional vinegar.
- Cover and refrigerate for two hours.
- Serve in chilled bowls drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and garnished with the reserved diced cucumber.

This recipes serves 4, but the Mr. and I eat a whole batch together for dinner quite often in the summer. It also make a great appetizer for a summer dinner party because you can make it all in advance and serve it cold.

Enjoy!

Rosemary Sweet Potato Wedges and Prayers for the Bear Triplets

This is one of my favorite recipes that I've found doing Weight Watchers Online. These Sweet Potato Wedges make a great appetizer or side dish for a BBQ. They are so simple, delish, and much more healthy than french fries. I really think the rosemary gives them a great flavor.

via

The Ingredients
- 2 large sweet potato(es), washed and patted dry
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed

Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF.
- Cut each potato into 8 or so lengthwise wedges and place on a nonstick baking sheet.
- Drizzle with oil (I use a Misto olive oil sprayer)
- Sprinkle with salt and dried rosemary.
- Roast on one side for 10-15 minutes
- Toss and roast on other side until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes more.

Serve with ketchup if your love ketchup like I do.

4 wedges (without ketchup) = 3 WW points

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If you follow me on Twitter you'll know I've been tweeting about this. My dear friend Carey is pregnant with Triplets (22 weeks today). On Tuesday night Baby A's water broke. She's been in the hospital ever since, fighting to keep the Triplets alive and free of infection.

Please pray that the Triplets will stay put for a few more weeks and pray that they all stay free of infection.

And please pray for Carey's spirit. I visited her in the hospital yesterday and she said that prayers from friends, family, and strangers is what's keeping her strong and positive.

Our God is a God of miracles. Let's pray for one!

To read more about The Bear Triplets you can read Carey's Husband's Blog, Tips on Triplets.

Healtier PW Chicken Spaghetti

This recipe is my "healthier" take on the famous Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti Casserole.

Basically I increased the chicken and the veggies. And decreased the noodles, the cheese, and the cream of chicken/mushroom soup.

The Ingredients

• 3 cups Cooked Chicken
• 2 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
• 1 can Cream Of Chicken Soup
• 1/2 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Green Peppers Finely Diced
• 1 Red Pepper, Finely Diced
• 1 Finely Diced White Onion
• 1 Cup of Mushrooms, Finely Diced
• 1/2 cup Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• ⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

(And if you have extra veggies like lying around the house, like green onions, squash, or extra onions or peppers, you can finely dice those and throw them in the mix. Extra veggies = extra goodness!)



For pretty pictures of chicken and veggies being chopped up and mixed be sure to check out the original recipe.

Preparation Instructions

• Cook 1 cut up fryer (chicken) and pick out the meat to make three cups.
• Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente.
• Combine all ingredients except 1 cup sharp cheddar in a bowl.
• Place mixture in casserole dish (or multiple smaller casserole dishes for smaller serving sizes) and top with remaining sharp cheddar.
• Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly.
• I like to freeze one serving and cook another right away. Double your meals!

This is how it looked right before I put it in the oven.


So delish! And packed full of yummy veggies!

13 Wedding Registry "Must Haves" for the Kitchen

I consider myself a bit of a wedding registry guru. I probably spent WAY to much time researching products and registering (and unregistering) for wedding presents. Warning: If you have a haphazard wedding registry I will judge you.

Now that I'm two years into marriage, I think I made some pretty choices about which items to registry and not register for. So I thought I'd share my "bakers dozen" (ha!) of "must-have" kitchen items that you should (and should not) register for. (Or if you're already married, considering adding these items to your kitchen!).

1. A Crockpot/Slow Cooker

I registered for this Rival crockpot and love it! It's the right size, it's easy to use, and doesn't do "too much." (note: all products shown are my actual products unless otherwise noted.)


2. Oven-to-table CorningWare

I have this Corningware set and it's great. It's functional, versatile, and looks nice.


3. A Kitchen Utensils Set

I hate when people register for each kitchen utensil separately. It's hard for people to piece together a nice gift of random spoons and spatulas and it takes up a lot of visual space on a registry. I like when people register for a set and I'm very happy with my Oxo Good Grips Kitchen Tools set that we registered for.


4. Extra spatulas

It's hard to have too many spatulas. It seems there is always one or two of them in the dishwasher. So after you kitchen tools set you should register for a couple of nice extra metal spatulas (good for grilling out too!). I really like our stainless steel spatula from Crate & Barrel.


5. A good set of mixing bowls

I think three mixing bowls in three sizes is about perfect unless you are a crazy baker. I love this Oxo mixing bowl set that we registered for. They are sturdy, functional, and I love the non-slip bottoms.


6. A Toaster Oven

Our toaster oven is the most-used item in our kitchen. It's SO versatile. You can toast all kinds of bread, heat up food, make nachos and other appetizers, and so much more. It appears that the Oster Toaster Oven that we registered for is discontinued but this one is similar. We love our toaster oven so much that we don't even have a regular toaster.


7. Nice everyday flatware

Most people register for flatware but I seriously love our Couture Flatware from Crate & Barrel. We spent a long time picking this flatware and it was an excellent choice.


8. Little dishes

I have these little dishes from Crate & Barrel and use them SO much. They're good for prepping food, serving sauces with main dishes, and tons of other things.


9. An Espresso Maker

If you're a coffee lover like me, then register for an Espresso Maker. It's such a fun treat to use it and if you're like me it's something you'd never buy for yourself. We like our Krupps Espresso Maker a lot.


Now for things I didn't register for but wish I did...


10. A Rice Cooker

I struggled through cooking rice for a year before I finally broke down and bought this Aroma rice cooker. It has made making healthy meals like chicken, rice, and veggies SO much easier. I wish I'd had this a long time ago!


11. Really good baking sheets

I didn't register and William-Sonoma but I wish I had so I could have gotten a bunch of their goldtouch products. I registered for cheapie cookie sheets and regretted it. I'm obsessed my goldtouch baking sheets that I got for Christmas this year.


Now for things I didn't register for, but got separately as gifts, and I'm glad I did...


12. Stainless Steel Cookware

I was registered for a mishmash of teflon and expensive stainless steel cookware when my mother-in-law told me that I should unregister for that stuff and she'd buy me some good cookware as a shower present. She bought me this surgical stainless steel "waterless" cookware set. These pots and pans really are amazing! It took a bit of time to learn to cook on them but they really are the best pots and pans in the world. And she paid A LOT less than you would have paid for a comparable set at Bed, Bath & Beyond.


13. A Wine Fridge

We really wanted to register for a wine fridge but the options at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Crate & Barrel all held between 6-18 bottles which really isn't enough if you're at all serious about collecting and storing wine. So we skipped registering for that item and with some of our wedding money bough a 40 bottle Magic Chef wine cellar at Home Depot for the same price as the smaller ones retail for at those other stores! It's a fantastic cellar and we love having our wine properly stored in it.

So that's it for our wedding registry "must haves" for the kitchen! Maybe I'll do a follow up for items for the rest of the house. What kitchen items do you are "must haves" for a wedding registry?

Fun Weekend: Birthday Dinner, Antique Market, & Cooking

You know those fabulous weekends where you feel like you had a lot of fun and got a lot done. That was this past weekend.

Friday night we celebrated the Mr.'s birthday at JiRaffe in Santa Monica. It's a French/American gourmet restaurant that's Zagat rated, but we've never tried it.


It was amazing! We ate burrata and tomato salad, mushroom ravioli with truffle oil, apple pork chops, and coq au vin. And we drank Stag's Leap Petit Syrah. Loved it.

For dessert we had this lemon bread pudding, which was divine.


For a birthday present I got the Mr. a Lacoste Polo and a new Magic Wallet (he wore his old one out) and he liked both a lot.


On Saturday we went to yoga and then I planned out the meals I wanted to make for the week since I'm working from home most of the week. Then I hit Trader Joe's and Albertson's to get all the goods. Friends, this is as full as you'll ever see my fridge...


On Saturday night we watched The Social Network on Blu-Ray. I was surprised at what a great movie it was! I wonder if Zuckerburg is really that big of a jerk.


On Sunday I went with my blog-friend turned real-life friend, Brittney (from Our Poverty with a View), to the Long Beach antique flee market.

There was all kinds of trinkets and trash. But definitely a few treasures. Brittney and I kept commenting that if we were crafty like Young House Love or Brooklyn Limestone we'd able to turn a piece of china + a ceramic bird + a candlestick into some amazing centerpiece with the help of a little spray paint. :)

Brittney bough a cool old seltzer bottle to go on her bar...



And I bought some seashells...


After the Antique Market I went home to start my first cooking project of the week, making my own version of the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti. I made this recipe last year but thought I could make it bit healthier. So I cut down on the spaghetti, cream of chicken, and cheese. And I really increased the veggies (adding mushrooms, squash, and upping the peppers and unions) and lean chicken.


Here's how it looked, ready to be frozen!


I was able to get three casserole dishes out of the recipe. We're going to eat one tonight, so I will let you know how it is!

How was your weekend?

Brain Dump - Kale, Bridesmaid Dress, Skis and More!

In March I'm going to be a bridesmaid in my soon-to-be sister-in-law's wedding. I just ordered my dress and this is what it looks like. It's really cute, but I am not 100% sure about how I feel about the bubble hem.


Last week I finally bought new skis after skiing on the same skis for nine season! I bought the K2 True Luv skis. I'm so excited to try them out in Utah next week!


I have not owned K2 skis since my FIRST pair of skis in 1988, which were K2 Mickey skis that looked like this...


In an effort to complete the never-ending name change process I finally took a new passport photo. Apparently you're not allowed to smile with teeth in passport photos anymore. Oh and he made me move my bangs to the side all wonky. So my goofy new passport picture looks like this...


This weekend I finished putting the 2010 Christmas cards in my "Christmas Card Scrapbook" that I started in 2009. I love it!


The Mr. and I just finished watching Season 4 of Dexter of Netflix. Holy intense season batman! It was as good as Season 2 and may have been the best season yet.


This living proof that our cat Judah is crazy and will literally play with anything. This is him playing with a green bean that he stole off of the counter while I was cooking dinner.

On Friday night I made Kale Chips for the first time using the Kath Eats recipe. Delish! I didn't even know that I liked kale, but I got some from our CSA so I decided to give it a try. Thanks to my tweeps, Mrs. Smith and Rachel for the help!


I finally bought a new desk chair for my home office and it's awful. It was just $30, so I guess you get what you pay for. Sigh. Does anyone know where to buy a nice but inexpensive desk chair?