Healthy Stuff

Excellent recipe from my FAV nutritionist.  Thanks Bosco!

Portobello Pizza

1 portobello mushroom

2 Tbsp. pizza sauce

2 Tbsp. Smart ground original "beef" crumbles

2 Tbsp. fat free shredded mozzarella cheese

Remove the stem and "hairy part" of the mushroom.  I cooked the mushroom in a pan on med-high heat open side up for about 2 minutes, then flipped it over for 1-2 minutes.  When the mushroom is cooked through it has a gray-opaque appearance.  Once the mushroom was pretty much cooked i put it on a plate cap side up and layered in the pizza sauce, beef, and topped with the mozzarella cheese.  I microwaved it about 30sec to get the cheese to melt (the beef heats up really quickly).   It was a perfect, healthy, filling substitute for pizza!

I heart Jessica Simpson

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Jessica Simpson.  In spite of all of the negative crap that is written about her in the press, she has an incredible talent.  Who knew that one of my first successes in the kitchen would come from a recipe by Jessica Simpson.  John scoffed at the idea until he tasted it... It's quick and easy and its yummy!  It says 4 servings but we get 6+ out of it. 

Jessica Simpson debuted this recipe on the Rachael Ray Show: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/view/640/

Jessica Simpson's Chicken and Dumplings

3 rolls of reduced-fat croissant rolls, divided  (I usually get by with 2 rolls)

1 small rotisserie chicken, skin discarded and meat removed from bones

1 can of low-sodium, reduced fat cream of chicken soup

1 can of low-sodium, reduced fat cream of mushroom soup

1 cup of low-sodium chicken broth

salt and ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400F

Roll out the cans of croissant sheets and separate into diamond shaped sections.  Place a small handful of chicken on each diamond, fold dough over and press ends together to create dumplings.  Cut up any excess dough into strips.  Line a 9x13" baking dish with one layer of dumplings.  Pour can of cream of chicken soup over the dumplings, followed by the can of cream of mushroom soup, and chicken broth.  Place strips in a crisscross pattern on the top of the dumplings and soup mixture, season dish with salt and ground black pepper and bake until the dumplings are tender and cooked through, and the top is bubbly and brown.  Approx. 30 minutes.  

It reheats really well for lunches for work.  I usually mix in some peas too.  Yum!

The Locals

Today was my day off and like most days off, I spend it playing catch-up.  I watch the shows from the beginning of the week on my DVR while paying bills, doing laundry, vacuuming, etc.  Then I usually run my errands which includes an adventure to the grocery store.  

I live in a fairly wealthy suburb.  There a lot of women in this town with a loooot of money, so naturally they don't work.  Therefore, it doesn't matter what time of day or what day of the week they are in the grocery store in full force.  No matter where you turn, there she is....the stepford wife.  You know the type, huge diamond on her finger, freshly blown our hair all shiny and perfect.  She barrels up and down the aisles with those shopping carts for kids that are shaped like trucks.  She drives her cart the same way that she drives her $75,000 SUV; recklessly and with entitlement. She has flawless skin with one, two, or three "perfect" children in tow (all HORRIBLY misbehaved throwing food on the floor and having hissy fits).  Of course she is styling the latest fashions from an overpriced downtown boutique.  She tries to regain control of her unruly brood but of course she is unsuccessful because she doesn't even look at her kids as she attempts discipline.  The kids all have ridiculous trendy names.  "Warner honey put that back on the shelf please." Meanwhile little Warner dressed from head to tow in  JCrew Baby is opening the freezers and putting all of the ice cream onto the non-refrigerated juice shelf.  You better stay out of her way because she's oblivious to your existence as well as the existence of any other customers or staff in the store.  Down the next aisle I hear a mother telling her young daughter, "Sweetheart put that back it is full of high-fructose corn syrup." She as well does not even look at her child as she scans the labels of nothing other than maple syrup to find one that contains acceptable ingredients.  I found it very hard to bite my tongue and not tell her that no matter which syrup she chooses...well it will always be syrup.  I don't think that really falls into the healthy category.  

I think I'm going to start shopping at the grocery store on the other end of town....

Happily Ever After

So, now that we're into the happily ever after chapter, I will explain why I am "undomestic."  I definitely know how to clean and I do actually clean very well, however I am much better at making a mess.  The real undomestic part comes from my lack of cooking skills.  

In my defense, our one bedroom junior apt has the smallest kitchen known to man.  We literally have zero counter space.  From left to right our kitchen is layed out as follows: fridge, stove, microwave, dish drying rack, sink, wall.  Period. That's it.  No counter.  I'm sure the kitchen would present a challenge even to Raechel Ray or Emerill.  

 I have a second issue....no skills.  At my job as a nurse, I am affectionately known as, "the girl who can't cook."  Apparently several of my coworkers have passed around stories of my cooking escapades like whisper-down-the-lane.  In a single day I had 3 colleagues bring me cookbooks, all of which were just a little bit nicer than "Cooking for Dummies."  

Ok so first I will start with the salmon.  I'm not entirely sure that the fish itself wasn't just bad.  I bought it at the grocery store and they put some marinade right on it for me.  I'm thinking Great!, Easy!  John and I decided we weren't in the mood for salmon that night so we left it in the fridge until the following day.  I cooked it according to the package directions.  When I was done it was a funky, slimy, congealed, mess.  It was so bad I wouldn't even let John attempt to eat it.  

A few days later I thought I actually had a victory.  My friend Ashley sent me some great williams-sonoma cookbooks.  They had this great coconut-lime shrimp in there.  So I made it.  It was actually delicious!  I was so excited.  John was too! He was sooo excited that he ate like 3 plates of it.  Next thing we know, poor John had hives everywhere!  So much for success... 

Those are just of a couple of stories...I could go on and on!

Introduction

And so it began... I met John in 2006 at my best friend's wedding.  Yup, it was actually that cheesy story about the bridesmaid and the groomsman that fall in love at a wedding. (Apparently that actually happens in real life...who knew!?)

John & Kristin at Ange & Dave's Wedding

We dated from that day on and before we knew it we were in love.   That November we took our first and still favorite trip together to Disney World.  (It really IS the happiest place on earth, in case you were wondering)  

On our one year anniversary John took me back to the place where we met - Penn State.  After a nice dinner, we took a walk through the campus.  John proposed to me in a garden on campus.  I said yes of course!  

On October 10, 2008 John and I were married.  

and they lived happily ever after...