Calorie Counting

One of the girls on my roller derby team introduced me to this app for the iPhone, called My Fitness Pal. You basically enter a little info about you and your lifestyle, and then it creates a program for you. And its super easy to enter what you're eating into it. I decided to start using it because I want to be at my peak physically with derby. Its definitely hard work keeping up with other girls when you only skate 3 days a week for 2 hours. But in the past month I've added 5 days at the gym also. I started doing zumba, cardio circuit, running on the treadmill, the elliptical and an ab class. All this is great, and I feel good, but what and how much I eat will eventually affect my results. If I'm just eating whatever I want whenever I want, am I being counterproductive to my goals? This program on this site or app, its really nice though. I enter my work outs and it will adjust my caloric intake for the day. Its amazing to see how quickly the calories add up, so I'm watching it and being careful, because I want to be in the best competing condition I can be. I don't want to call it a diet, I'll call it a lifestyle change.

The day after Xmas

So Christmas day has come and gone. That morning the kids woke up, and we got them all ready to go in the living room. They wanted to run straight in there of course, but it just doesnt work that way for us. Mommy and Daddy need time to at least put their glasses and contacts in, hahaha. Also, I needed time to run and grab the camera. When we got there finally, they were totally excited.

Desi wore her shock face for a few minutes.


Then they proceeded to investigate. Parker had to make sure Santa ate his cookie, while Desi followed up behind him making sure that the reindeer ate the celery she left out for them.


After everything got their approval they started checking out the gifts Santa left. For the record, Santa doesn't wrap in our house. That is probably my way of being lazy, but I don't care. Its usually a good way for me to get out of wrapping really big things. Parker got his train table, with Batman toys we'd set up on top. Desi got her art easel, and a puppy toy she'd asked Santa for 3 times. Then came time for them to begin unwrapping. They got several cool things.

Parker got the Star Wars Mighty Beanz carrying case and a two packages of beanz. I dont know exactly what they are, but they sorta remind me of bean shaped Weebles. Matt picked them out, because he said Parker just LOVED them in the store one day.


Desi and Parker, each got a new play doh set. Desi got a kitchen set, and Parker got an R2D2 set. They were so excited. Desi almost wanted to stop with presents and just go play with it.


Finally they were finished with gifts, and Parker wanted to play his new Rock em Sock em with Daddy.


While the kids played, I made breakfast, which was waffles as per Desi's request. Everyone ate, and I cleaned the house. I wasnt overly in a mood to do it, but I knew we had to go to Matt's parents' house still, and that could mean certain mayhem and doom to my work load, depending on what all they got for the kids. Last year, I ended up with 3 extra loads of laundry just from gifts alone! So I wanted a head start this year.

Well, we got to Matt's parents' house and had dinner. Then we went downstairs and it was time for gifts. Parker got a cool Batman castle, and a Stinky the Garbage Truck and a few other things. Desi got a HUGE wooden kitchen, this thing is amazing looking! She also got Dora blocks and a princess book, and again, some other things, I just can't remember what all they got, haha. But they had a ton of fun. Matt's parents also got 2 Wii games, to keep at their house for the kids. And for our family, they got an Xbox 360 and the Kinect with two games. It was pretty cool.

After gifts, we played Wii's Just Dance game and the Michael Jackson Experiance dance game with Matt's parents, and aunts and cousins. They were fun. Matt and I competed in "The Way You Make Me Feel," and "Tik Tok" and he won both. Later we did one more to a song he chose, "Wake Me Up Before You Go" and I won! I was so excited. Guess my 80's dancing is just better than his.

We tried setting up the Xbox when we got home, but I think its going to take some work and time to figure out. We haven't had a console in about 4 years, so we're probably pretty behind in gaming.

Xmas Eve Scrambling

This year's Christmas has been spread out a little bit for us, which works out great. We went to my mother's house tonight, and tomorrow we'll go to Matt's parents' house. The kids got a ton of things as usual. But most of it was practical things they enjoy, like coloring books, flannel button-up pajamas and dvd's (they watch TONS of movies). I was super stoked because I got two Hunger Games shirts, maybe I'll post pictures later. They are pretty awesome.

After we came home, we bathed the kids, and then said it was time for bed. Parker reminded us pretty quickly though, that we still needed to put cookies and milk out for Santa Claus. So he got them ready and set them on the tv stand. Desi got a piece of celery out for the reindeer. Now they are in bed, although they aren't sleeping yet. They seem to be needing more potty breaks and other various stall tactics tonight than usual. We got their "Santa" toys set up now, and Matt is having to build the two big items. We got Parker a really nice train table, which I found on clearance for $18!! Not too shabby, seeing as it was originally $75. Desi we got an art easel. She loves painting, writing and playing with playdoh.

Here's Matt working on the train table.


It will eventually look like this.

Abracadabra! You're a cow!

I spent yesterday ripping a zipper out of my husband's coveralls, and today pinning it in correctly. I'll sew it in later, not much motivation in stuff like that.

But Parker decided to put on his costume that I made him for Halloween last year. Its quite a bit shorter on him this year, but still fits overall. It made me smile, and he used the tail from his dragon as his magic wand. He then proceeded to turn me and Desi into whatever animals he could think of. :)

Hopefully back in the saddle

Been busy and bored and whatever else I could have been doing for the past forever months. During the summer I made several tiered skirts, as demanded by Desi, and a few for her friends for their birthdays. The nice thing about these, is they are made wide enough, and with an elastic waist band. So as Desi gets older and taller, her ankle and calf length skirts will become knee length skirts but probably still fit her around the waist just fine. I figure if they get a little too short, I can always just throw some leggings on underneath them. :)






I also made some hair clips/flowers to match the skirts.



Trying to prep things for Christmas, I decided I better get sewing. I wanted to try to do aprons and pot holders for people. I've finished 6 adult aprons, and 2 childrens aprons so far. I used 3 different prints for the aprons. Jana's a good model. She fixes herself up more regularly than I do, lol, so its better to take pics of her. Also Desi loves her mini apron. She's such a cutie.




The pot holders were easy, altho I cut so many out, that they've become a chore. I only did one full oven mitt, and like 3 of the fingertip mitts. I'll get around to making the ones that match the other aprons later. They are a cool thing to do with your fabric scraps, but I should have used a little more variety than cutting out enough for 8 fingertip mitts. I should have used some of it for zippered pouches or something, just to keep myself from getting bored.

Chocolate Nutella Turnover

I was eating Nutella when I lived in Germany between the ages of 2-8. I LOVE it. Its one of my favorite things, although I do try not to buy it too often. I like just putting it on a slice of white bread, folding it in half, and eating it that way. So, imagine how excited I was when I found this recipe for Chocolate Nutella Turnovers!

I was supposed to make these one morning when Terri was gonna come over. But "someone" overslept and didn't make it. So I proceeded without her. The puff pastry thing rolled out pretty easy. Nothing to it really I guess. Mine didn't stay in the square shape though, exactly, it was a little off. I filled the squares with the Nutella/chocolate mixture, and had to make sure not to put too much. It really does make it hard to shut if there is slightly too much. The dough is so thin at that point that you can't fill it and then push it down a little without breaking through. Anyway,
end result..... Ta Da!

They were very yummy. I think I prefer the Nutella chocolate, over the semisweet chocolate on the top. Its just not my favorite thing, I suppose. It was yummy, and I enjoyed the almonds. I don't think I could sit down and eat more than one at a time, so make sure you have friends, if you wanna try this. The turnovers DO reheat in the microwave well, so that's a plus!

Monkey Bread

So I've been slacking for a little bit lately. Busy with things, and doing simple meals or repeating the ones I've really liked. I ended up deciding yesterday to make Monkey Bread for the first time. I'd never had it before, and although I'd heard of it, I didn't even really know what it was. What it is, is ridiculously easy!

Monkey Bread
3 cans of buttermilk biscuits
1 cup sugar
2-3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/2 cup brown sugar

First things first, preheat the oven to 350. Then, pop open the cans of biscuits and then cut them into fours (cut in half, then cut the halves in half). Then, put the white sugar and cinnamon in a gallon zip lock bag followed by all the biscuit pieces. Close the bag and SHAKE! They were all sticky going in, but coming out, they were each coated with sugar and cinnamon very evenly. Then I put them into a bundt pan. FYI, I had to drop my oven rack one notch. Not because the bundt pan didnt fit, but because the pan overflows once the biscuits start to rise.
So then we put the butter sticks into a little sauce pot, and get them all melted and liquidy. When the butter is melted add the brown sugar and mix it up really good. Then pour it all over the biscuits in your bundt pan.
Pop the pan in the oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes. I think I ended up having to go around the full 40 minutes. The biscuits rose up over the edge of the pan and were all puffy and browned.
You're supposed to let it sit for a little bit to cool, but unless its a cake, I don't really listen to that. Fair warning, the butter that didn't seep into the biscuits, may pour all over your counter, if the plate you are putting this on, isn't large enough. Little thing I didn't think of, but will definitely remember in the future. It was a sticky mess.

And TA DA! Its so yummy and so pretty. I'm pretty sure my husband thought I was crazy with all the "Oh my god! MmmMMMmMmm! Oh man!" sounds that I was emitting from the kitchen when I took my first few bites. Its to die for. I'm not a huge cinnamon fan, but this is absolutely to die for!
One thing I will say is, its a lot of food. It IS 3 cans of biscuits after all. So we barely made a dent into this, even tho my mouth wanted to keep eating it, my stomach just couldn't handle anymore. But maybe eventually I'll work out a smaller version of this so less goes to waste, if any.

Babydoll dress

I bought this super cute knit toile fabric about 6 months ago. I found it on this website called SewZannes. Lots of super cute knits if you are into that. Toile is usually in home decorator fabrics or cottons, so the fact that I found one in a knit was super exciting to me. Im a nerd, I know. It's ok, I deal with it on a daily basis. Anywho, I saw a dress on Etsy that I really like but was totally not willing to pay $85 for a dress. Plus making it myself, means I can customize it to my hearts desire. So I decided Id finally use the toile I bought forever ago, to make the bottom portion of the dress. A friend of mine bought me some pink bunny buttons, that Ive been holding onto for a while also. Sometimes you just gotta hold onto cool things until the mood strikes ya, I guess. So I decided to mesh the toile and bunny buttons, and to tie them together, Id use a pale pink cotton interlock. I decided to use a one inch grosgrain ribbon for the straps, and a one inch lace for the trim around the top and the straps. The lace is super cute, and its sorta sparkly iridescent. I used a pretty basic pattern for the main idea of the dress. Its overall a babydoll dress. This allowed me to have the pieces of the dress pretty close to the size they were going to be in the end result. All the trim and stuff I kinda had to figure out for myself and I had to reshape the bust a little bit because it called for putting darts into it if it was cotton (which I was using a knit). I think the dress probably took me about 3-4 hours total, but I take a lot of breaks while making it to take care of the kids and do other things. Still it was done in one day.

Zippered Pouch Tutorial, as promised ;)

I'll do my best to explain this, but it really is pretty simple. I can do them without any directions now.

First things first. Cut out your fabric into the desired size. I usually take a piece of paper, fold it down to the approximate size I want my pouch to be. I also buy a 7 inch long zipper in a coordinating color to match whatever fabric Im using. The 7 inch zipper works for me, with the piece of paper Im using as my pattern. You will need to cut out 2 pieces of fabric for your lining, and 2 pieces of fabric for the outside of your pouch.

Ok, first actual step for sewing. lay 1 piece of your lining down, pattern facing UP. Then lay your zipper along the edge.

Now, you'll lay your outer fabric piece down, pattern facing DOWN. Pin both pieces of fabric to the zipper, as straight as you can get it.


Sew a line, as close to the zipper as possible. My sewing machine has left and right alignment, so I just adjust it to the one that is closest to the zipper at that time. Also, when I get close to the zipper, I drop my needle, and lift the foot, and unzip the zipper, so it stays out of my way while Im sewing. Then drop the foot, and keep going.


Open up the fabric you just sewed, and then iron it down. Then you will sew, the same line pretty much, but now with your fabric opened up, to the right side. I put my needle alignment back to middle for this.


Now we are basically repeating the first few steps, but on the opposite side of the zipper. Lay your lining fabric down, pattern facing up. Lay down the piece you've already sewn. Lay down your outer fabric, pattern facing down. Pin along the zipper.


Sew along the zipper line, same as before. Then open it up, iron it down, and then sew that line again. Once you've finished that you're project should look like this.


Unzip it about half way. This will make it a million times easier when we get a little farther into the project.


Open up both ends, so that the matching fabric prints are both facing in towards each other. Line up the fabric that is your lining. Pin both of the short sides. When you get ready to sew it, make sure you've folded the zipper down towards the lining fabric, on both sides. I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of this step, you'll just have to know it when you see it.


Sew a line down each side. Make sure to go forward and backward along the zipper ends that you folded down.

Now, we're going to pin the outer fabric side. This time though, we are pinning it all the way around.


Sew all the way around all 3 edges. I usually run over the zipper edges again, just to make sure it's all secure.


This part is where leaving the zipper half unzipped is gonna come in handy. Flip your bag right side out, but leave the lining hanging out.


Fold the lining in, so there are no unfinished edges showing, and then pin it. Sew a line as close to the edge as you can. This seals your pouch.


Push the lining back into the bag. And voila, you've just made a pouch.


Zip it up, and you're ready to go.

Im feeling saucy ;)

Tonight, I sorta cheated and added a new recipe to my queue, used another one that I just made, and added one from my list that I hadn't made yet. Its my damn list though, and I'll do it as I please!

I made a Chicken with Red Wine Sauce tonight as the main dish. Gotta use up all the Merlot I bought for the cake! I like that this website, has a spot where you can enter how many servings you want, and !POOF! it will calculate all the ingredients up for you! I still did tweaking though, because I'm like that. I had 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts, so I just switched up the serving size to 6 to basically cut the recipe in half for me. I followed most of it pretty closely. I did use 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, because the amount it was giving me seemed pretty ridiculous. I also read several of the reviews for it, and cut the amount of brown sugar down a little bit more, so I only ended up using probably 1/3 of a cup. Other than that though I followed the recipe, promise! It's kinda hard to make myself remember after sprinkling the paprika and sugar on the chicken, NOT to stir it up. Just let it sit there and soak in. I did think it was neat, after the simmering stuff was done, the bottom half of my chicken pieces were kinda reddish purple. :) The chicken was sweet and spicy at the same time, it was a super interesting and yummy flavor.

I ended up remaking the Parmesan Cheese Linguine because, DUH, its delicious! And I figured it would go good with the chicken and the Bruschetta I decided to make with it. The bruschetta, I didn't go full out special with it. I just bought Vienna Bread (its shorter and wider than French bread) because that's what the bakery had. I then bought pre-made basil pesto and Roma tomatoes. I already had mozzarella in my fridge so I figured I was good to go. I used to work at a pizza place for a few years, and this was the way we made bruschetta there. Simple simple. Take your bread slices, spread pesto on it, dice up tomatoes, put on bread, then top with shredded mozzarella. I set the oven on 350, and then just bake it long enough for the cheese to get good and melty.

Now, I'm not a tomato eater. Sure, I'll eat ketchup or spaghetti sauce, but is it really a tomato by then? Ramble ramble. Anyway, I totally enjoyed the bruschetta. Desi ate it also, and she'd never eaten tomatoes of any kind before. Neither kid ate the chicken, and believe me its not like I gave them a ton of it. I gave each of them one small piece and they still couldn't eat it. Parker did eat all of his noodles though, although he did tell me, in his own special way of trying to wipe at his tongue with a towel, that it was too peppery for him.

I'm still alive!

Tonight for dinner, I went for something I pretty much know how to do by heart now. I found this recipe online about 2 months ago, and its super easy. Its just a simple Steak strips and Rice. I started out making this back then, because I wanted steak, and my husband either wasn't getting home till later, or didn't want to grill out. Either way, doesn't matter. I'm now a steak strips pro. Matt loves it, and on a rare occasion, Desi will eat some of the steak and rice. Parker on the other hand will only eat the rice. Go figure. I do always add some butter to the rice after its done cooking for a little more flavor. I didn't take pictures of it though tonight. I'm slacking. Frankly, I wasn't really thinking about it.

As for the side item, I made the dreaded Broccoli and Cheese, from my recipe "to do" list. Matt likes broccoli, I do not. Frankly, its pretty much up there with seafood, meaning I can't even stand the smell of it, typically. But, Matt called me on his way home from work, letting me know he pulled a muscle in his back, so I decided to at least make dinner nice for him, and seeing as this was on my list of recipes to try, tonight is as good as any night. Might as well get it over with for me.

I used a steamer to cook the broccoli (looks like this). I got it back when the kids were babies, and I was making their baby food. (PS, making baby food without the steamer would have been hell) Anyway, I think it might have steamed for like 10 minutes or so. Then I melted about 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. I transferred the broccoli into a microwaveable bowl and then poured the butter on it, then put a handful of shredded cheddar cheese it. Nuked it for a minute and voila.... broccoli and cheese. Now, I'm not gonna lie. I really did almost skip putting the broccoli on my plate altogether after putting my steak strips and rice on there. But I figured I'd better at least try it, so that one day when my kids are actually WILLING to try it, I can say I've done it as well. Turns out, its edible. The bushy part is better tasting than the stem part. And I wish I would have done a bigger handful of cheese. I think I liked that the bushy part soaked up the butter, so it had some flavor other than "green".

So, am I willing to eat it again? Sure, if the kids are around, haha. I'm probably not going to order it off a menu or eat it on my own volition. But I guess if I make it for Matt, I can at least put it on my plate also, so when the kids are looking at me like I'm crazy for putting something gross on their plates, at least its on mine also.

Shake shake shake.....

Monday night, we ended up making cheeseburgers, and instead of doing the regular french fries, I decided to go ahead and try the Cajun Fried Potato Wedges. Sounds like a suitable substitute. First off, I have no idea where to buy rice flour, so I just stuck with the self rising flour.

Well I did the coating them with the spices, and sugar and salt by dumping them all into a giant zip lock bag, and then shaking them up. Easy right? "Its shake n bake... and I helped!" Anyway, started the fryer, and then started taking the wedges out and coating them in the flour and then dropping them in the fryer. No big thang..... Well I just left the wedges I wasn't frying at the moment in the zip lock bag. As time went on, the wedges started creating this lake of Cajun spicy goodness, instead of sticking to the potato wedges. WTF? Darn sweaty potatoes! So, next time I do this, I guess I'll coat them and then lay them on a plate or something away from the sauna-like confines of the plastic bag. :/ Needless to say, the first batch of potato wedges were yummy in a spicy way. The second and third batches were yummy in a flour battered way. Either way they were good, but if you want the darn seasoning flavor you put the work into, don't leave them in the bag to sweat it out.

Just another Manic Monday....

When I was little (like age 2-8 maybe) and lived in Germany, my Oma used to make me a Red Wine Cake at least once a week. I LOVED them. They were so good. My mother says it was probably a cake out of a box, like Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines would be in America, but I don't care, it was still awesome. For the longest time I'd had a lot of trouble finding anything close to it as a substitute, until I started looking around online for different recipes.

This morning, I decided to make the Chocolate Bundt Cake. I mostly used one recipe (recipe #1), but borrowed a little info from another one (recipe #2). Links included.

I followed the first recipe almost to the letter. I did use 2% milk instead of 1% (don't know if it really matters). And instead of using just 6 ounces of chocolate to melt, I went ahead and used the full 8 ounces that were in the box. I figured, what's the difference? When it was time to add the liquor, the first recipe didnt actually specify how much to use, so I looked at "recipe #2" and they said they used 1 1/2 cups. My batter was pretty liquidy already, so I just used 1 cup. I bought a Merlot, to use for my cake.

So I think my cake ended up having to cook about 55 minutes. It started to bubble over the top of the pan, and came close to touching the top of my oven, so I hurried up and lowered the rack. Something that I'll probably do at the start of cooking next time instead of in the middle. Things to remember, I guess.

It took FOREVER for this sucker to cool off. The recipe said after 20 minutes of cooling to turn it out of the pan and let it finish cooling on a rack. My cake was not coming out of that pan to save its life. So I let it sit in the pan for about an hour and a half. Even then, I had to get a knife and jiggle it along the sides of the cake, as per someone's suggestion. (Thanks Alka) Didnt come out competely pretty, but I figure I'll be covering it anyway here shortly, so it'll survive. Desi did enjoy eating all the pieces that didn't come out of the pan though. Note to self, grease that pan and flour it better than I did. Apparently what I thought was good enough, was not as good as it could have been.

After I finally got my cake out of the pan, I start to melt another box of chocolate for the topping. Pouring it onto the cake, I realized it doesn't do the pretty "drizzle down the sides" thing unless you pour A LOT in one area. Overall, I still think it came out pretty. After the chocolate drizzle, I put some powdered sugar in my hand and blew it onto the cake. Raspberries would probably be really pretty and tasty on there also. Maybe next time. So all in all, after tasting the cake, I think its just as good, if not better than the cake I had when I was little. Its really moist (haha) and delicious.