Happy New Year

Chorizo Empanada Puffs

I call these Chorizo Empanada Puffs because they look like empanadas before they are cooked, but once they puff up they don't look like them anymore, but they are oh so good. 

This is really a "go to" app for me. I make them a lot because they are good, different, easy, and my husband LOVES them! 

This is not really a straight forward recipe. The first time I had them my friend, Kristie, made them and just kind of told me what was in them. So here goes....

Chorizo Empanada Puffs

I cooked up 3 links of chorizo. I basically removed the raw chorizo from the casings and added to a skillet until I felt like it was cooked through...about 20 minutes on med. 

Once that was done I laid it on paper towels to remove some of the oil (chorizo is oily)

Then I took 2 boxes of puff pastry and cut out circles with a cup. I added a little of chorizo to the middle and used warm water around the edges to crimp together. Then I used a fork to crimp more and make sure they were closed. 

I whisked an egg white and painted it on them with a pastry brush. 

Put them in the over for about 20 minutes on 350. Basically until they were golden brown.

I served them with a sweet chili sauce. 

I made these on my lunch break and then warmed them back in the over right before serving. 

This picture is before they puff up!

Elf on the Shelf

My niece spent the night with me on Saturday night. I have so much fun with her whenever she comes over. Since it's Christmas time her elf, Bobby, joined the sleep over. I wanted to do something fun with Bobby so I had my sister pack a couple barbies in their bathing suits and some of Ken's swimming trunks!

I filled up the sink with water and blue food coloring to make a pool. I had booby holding come sunscreen and I had it spell out Emily's name. I laid one barbie on a wash cloth and had one holding tinfoil to tan her face. 

This was a hug hit with Emily. She was cracking up and couldn't believe Bobby had done that!!

Bobby also left Emily a magic seed to plant!! The day before Emily met with Santa. She told him she wanted an Ariel barbie for Christmas. It just so happened that I had found an Ariel barbie on sale and had it stocked away. Santa told her she needed to stop sucking her thumb though. 

That night she did so good not sucking her thumb. When it was bed time, she asked me about 1000 times if she could suck her thumb. I said no every time and she ended up falling asleep without sucking her thumb. So, the next morning I left her a note from Bobby explaining that he had told Santa she did really good and was proud of her. He left her a magic seed (green m&m) and we planted it in a pot of sugar. While she was in the living room I stuck the Ariel barbie in the pot. 

That child was so excited. I couldn't get the smile off her face! I love doing this kind of stuff for her. It makes her so happy!

DIY Christmas Coasters

My sister in law made me these really cute coasters last year for my Christmas present. She used tile,  mod podge, scrap book paper, and cork drawer liners. They were so cute and seemed easy so I decided to make them for my neighbors this year. 

These were so easy to make and SOOO cheap. I bought a pad of Christmas scrapbook paper that had 24 sheets in it for $5.99. That's 25 cents a sheet which is really cheap. Then I bought a big bottle of the matte mod podge. I think that was about $8, but it has enough in there to probably last me a year! The tile was 16 cents a piece at Home Depot, and I already had the cork draw liners cause I made placemats with them last Easter.

First I put a layer of mod podge on the tops of the tile. Then I laid the paper on it and let it dry. I then added 4 layers of mod podge, letting each layer almost dry in between. I let them dry over night. Then I flipped them over and added a layer of mod podge to the bottom and added the cork liner and VOILA!...done! So dang easy! I might be making these a lot now!!

Christmas Dessert in a Hurry

Wednesday night I need to bring a dessert to a Christmas party. I didn't have time to make anything so I threw the following together...

3 bags of Crunch n Munch 

1 container of Christmas candy corn

1 container of white chocolate covered pretzels (Publix even had them with Christmas colors)

1 bag of Christmas M&M's

And Voila!, you have a quick and easy dessert on the fly!!

Christmas Decor

This year I am not decorating. I have been so busy lately (JUST took down my Halloween stuff today) and will continue to be busy until December is over. Also, we will be spending the week of Christmas at our cabin this year so we won't even be home to enjoy it. It takes a lot of time to get all that stuff out of the attic and even more time to put it up. So I made the decision to forgo it this year. 

So, here are my decorations for last year! I love Christmas so much and I am so sad that I don't get to enjoy the decor this year, but at least I have pics!!

I love putting the garland and lights up the staircase! So pretty! 

Last year I did something new. I have urns on either side of the door. When we

went to get out tree they had a ton of scraps from the trees and let me have them for

free. I grabbed a ton. I put those down first, then cut some of the holly branches in our 

front yard, some pinecones I picked up on the ground, and some pine tree

 branches. Then I added the large ornaments on top of that. 

I loved how it turned out and it was cheap!

 I used those same scraps and stuck them in my grapevine wreath that I use all year long for different holidays (Easter, Halloween). 

 This is our little tree. It is filled with ornaments that we 

get when we travel. We have been doing this since 2005. 

 And of course our big tree. I love this tree!! 

Christmas Food

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love all the lights, decor, and themed food! What's not to love! Here are a few things I made last season.....pictures are horrible!

This is tortellini with some pesto and tomatoes. I called it Christmas pasta!

Cheese and Meat Tray....pepper jack, colby jack, munster, cheddar, tomatoes, capicola, prosciutto, rosemary, and a little yellow pepper star! 

 Santa Pancake.....whipped cream, can of strawberry pie filling, 2 banana slices, and 2 chocolate chips

Santa belly pizza.....pepperoni, black olives, and yellow peppers

Red velvet brownies cut like Christmas trees with green sprinkles

Santa Bagel.....bagel thin, cream cheese, mini chocolate chips, 

chocolate chips, baby carrot, 

spinach wrap, and crasins

I have been making these for years....WAY before Pinterest ;) Grape tomatoes, 

fresh mozzerella balls, fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and kosher salt on a tooth pick

Reindeer buckeyes....buckeyes, pretzels, red gel icing, mini chocolate chips

Chicken roll tree....chicken salad made with cream cheese and cheddar, 

spinach wraps, and bell peppers.

Christmas Wrapping

I love wrapping presents. I do get very stressed out when it doesn't quite go my way though!! I want it to be perfect and sometimes that's just not possible. 

Last year I did a very simple wrapping job. I took brown paper sack style paper, adding a thinner version of the ribbon I had on my tree, then added some sprigs from the tree. It was elegant, yet natural and matched the tree very well!

   

Clean Eating Waffles

This weekend I had my annual work meeting. We get together once a year for a time to reflect on the past year, learn, hang out, and have fun. We had a wonderful dinner at Pricci on Friday night and then saw Cirque Du Soleil Totem on Saturday night. It was a ton of fun, but exhausting. 

 On Sunday I was BEAT! So Mike and I had a wonderful day of doing NOTHING. Like litterally NOTHING. I haven't been that lazy in a while. One of the only things I did was make clean waffles with organic pure maple syrup! They were really good. 

Click here for the recipe from Gracious Pantry!

Backpacking the Appalachian Trail

Oh I know, I have been MIA for quite a while. I have been really busy lately. I went back to Arkansas and had 13 sessions which means I had 13 sessions to edit...plus the sessions I did here in Georgia for my photography business. 

Then I went to the Virgin Islands for another business venture, Virgin Islands Charter Yacht Vacations. The website is under construction right now until we get the yachts added. So we are also working on that...on top of our 8-5 jobs!! :) 

I haven't been doing great on my eating or working out for that matter. I have gained 5lbs back....UGH!!! 

However, over Thanksgiving break instead of consuming buttery mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, green bean casserole and fattening stuffing, I backpacked the Appalachian Trail. Yes that's right...I backed packed part of the Appalachian Trail. I surprised myself because I didn't think I could do it! 

Day 1...I got off work at 1:00 and we had to drive 2 hours to drop the truck off, then drive 1 hour north to start our trip south. So we didn't get started until 4:00. The first day we only hiked 2.4 miles, but it was up Standing Indian Mountain. It wasn't really to bad since there were some switch backs. When we got to the top we were greeted with one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my life. It was all kinds of colors and you could see the mountains for miles. The elevation of Standing Indian is 5,499' so we were way up there and could see it all.

Once we took that in it was crunch time to get our tent up, bear bag hung, sleeping pads blown up, sweaters on the dogs, and firewood collected before it got dark. That's a lot to do before the sun goes down and it was going down quick. 

Mike got the tent up and I started a fire. It was COLD. The wind was blowing on that mountain pretty hard. There wasn't much wood so the fire fizzled out pretty quick. Mike boiled us some water and we had some freeze dried beef stroganoff. It actually wasn't too bad. We then loaded everything up in the bear bag and got in bed. 

That night sleeping was not the easiest. We read the first chapter of A Walk in the Woods and then turned out the lights. The wind was blowing which made noises. It was super cold and Cosby, our Lab,  was freezing so he laid next to us shivering so we both let him in our sleeping bags. Buster was super warm..that dog has a lot of hair!! I tossed and turned for hours before I finally fell asleep. 

Day 2...I woke up around 4:00 and couldn't sleep. I was freezing. I am really claustrophobic so zipping up the sleeping bag all the way had not been an option, however I had to calm myself and do it because it was WAY to cold! It got down to the mid 20's. 

We finally got out of the tent around 8:30. Mike boiled some water and we made some lovely instant mashed potatoes and some hot tea. Then it was time to pack up....release the air from the pads, stuff your sleeping bag, take down the bear bag, and organize everything in your pack. 

Then we were off! Since the mountain we hiked up was north and our final destination was south we had to go back down it. Our car was parked at the bottom so we took a break and had lunch in the car. We met a couple of day hikers and a couple of guys that were from Indian that had been hiking north for over 5 days. 

Then it was time to get to our next destination. Our original plans were to go about 7 miles that day. After the cold nights sleep Mike asked if I wanted to go more and only stay the night one more night. That would mean I would have to go a little over 9 miles each day. I agreed to it since I didn't want to sleep in that cold 2 more nights. Since 2.4 miles were already done I figured I could do it....until we started up that next hill. I thought I was going to die and quickly changed my mind to stay 2 more nights! So we ended up doing 7.3 miles total that day. I know 2 more miles doesn't seem like a lot, but with a 23lb backpack on your back going up hill, 2 more miles was just to much for me. 

When we reached our destination we had more day light since it was 3:30, however we were in a valley so it would get darker sooner. We were out of water by this time and there was a little crappy stream nearby. Mike had to make many trips with the filter to get our camelbaks filled back up and get us enough water for dinner. 

We got our camp all set up and gathered fire wood. The fire I made on this night was much better than the one the night before. We made freeze dried lasagna for our Thanksgiving meal and enjoyed a fun size snicker for dessert! The moon was shining bright and since we had a larger fire we stayed outside until about 7:30! 

Then we headed in for the night. Since I had such a hard time sleeping the night before we decided to take a Benadryl to make us sleepy. Mike read chapter 2 from A Walk in the Woods and I was out before he even finished. This night was another cold one....very cold. 

Day 3....I woke up around 3:00a and just laid there tossing and turning. As long as I didn't stick my head out of my sleeping bag I could stay warm. Since we had both dogs in the tent and all of our breathing was hot and it was freezing outside, the tent was raining inside with condensation. And it was COLD condensation! 

We got up again and did our normal clean up routine and had some more mashed potatoes for breakfast. On this day we had about 6.4 miles. Some areas were downhill, some were level and some were very steep. There were a few times I didn't think I was going to make it! We stopped and had a long lunch and stretched out and ate a warm freeze dried meal...chicken teriyaki. It was gross!!! 

It was very windy and cold on this day. We finally made it to our destination and set up camp. The place we set up camp was down in a valley and there were dead trees all over the ground. At first this meant firewood!! I went around and gathered up a TON and made a huge blazing fire. Mike set up the hammock for me and a rested a bit while he set up the tent and gathered more water. (Such a good hubby!) 

The clouds quickly came over us and it started sprinkling a bit. This made me nervous. I texted my sister to find out the radar and she said it should stop by 6 and it did. The wind however did not stop. It was blowing on the hills so loud and those trees were swaying like crazy. Those dead trees that were all over our campsite that I was so excited about for firewood quickly became scary since I knew they had fallen from the wind. 

Our fire was blazing away, but it started getting really dark since the clouds were covering the moon so we decided to hit the sack! I was so looking forward to only hiking 4.6 miles the next day and getting to our truck! Since our phones were almost dead we couldn't read another chapter so we got out our maps to look at the trail and see where we had walked. Then took a Benadryl and went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of the wind, trees branches slamming into each other, and the howling of some sort of animal! 

Day 4...Wooo hooo! Last day! Now when I say this, it's not because I did not enjoy backpacking, it's simply because I have never been so cold in my life. It got down to the low 20's that night and the condensation turned into ice on our tent, sleeping bag, and pillow. My hands were so cold on this day that it felt like someone was ripping my fingernails from my fingers. It was crazy. 

We needed to be at our truck by 1:00 since we had so far to drive to pick up the other car and then to get back to our cabin. We were having Mexican food and margaritas with our cabin neighbors that night and nothing was going to stop us! 

Right away we had a pretty long hill to climb. Once we made it past that I knew there was only one more small hill and then the rest was down hill. I was so happy when we hit the peak of that second one. Now it was about 1 mile down hill to our truck. Nothing was going to stop me now. 

That is until I tripped over a rock and my backpack sent my forehead lunging into a rock on the ground in front of me. It was like slow motion. First, my right toe hit the rock and I started going down. My right knee hit the ground first. Then I stuck my hands out to try and brace myself, but the weight of my pack pushed against the back of my head and bam, my head hit the rock. I remember as I was going down I could see the rock I was about to hit and yelling "oh no". I looked up to see Mike and just started bawling. It hurt so bad. He came running up and checked to make sure I didn't crack it open. When he moved my hair it hurt so bad. I instantly got a horrible headache. I was bummed that we were only 1/2 mile from our truck when it happened cause we almost made it out uninjured, but at the same time it was good it happened then and not at the beginning. 

I am not sure I have ever been so happy to see that truck before. I jumped in, took my boots off,  turned on the seat warmers, and head for the cabin!! 

That night we had a pitcher of margaritas, mexican food, and told our stories to our cabin neighbors. Joe, is who Mike went on his first trip with. He said he was very proud of me. I told him he shouldn't be because it was very hard for me and then he said "Most women won't even sleep on the ground like you did." That made me feel kind of good. 

2 side notes....1. Our dogs were rockstars. Cosby, who has hip dysplasia, was so good. He lead us the whole time and had a blast. Buster, carried all of his food and supplies as well as Cosby's. He stayed right next to us the whole time. Those boys has a BLAST. 2. My husband was a rockstar. He made sure we had everything we needed, got our camp set up each night, packed up our camp each morning, and cheered me along the whole way. There is no way I could have done it without him.

I can't wait until our next trip.....when it's warmer!!

Halloween Decor

I never really decorate for Halloween. This year I decided with all the pinterest front porches I wanted to. For some reason I really wanted to do something with black crows. I had these twigs in my urns that I had used for Easter earlier in the year so I spray painted those black. Bought some orange and black pumpkins, a lot of black crows, and some spider web stuff. 

Then it was time to do the wreath. I bought a bunch of black feather boas. Feather boas aren't that cheap...$10 at Hobby Lobby and I needed 4. So I had a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby for one item. I went back 4 days in a row LOL!!! Then I bought orange Christmas ornaments and they were already 50% off. Halloween ribbon was also 50% so I snagged some polka dot ribbon with orange and green since I had bright green hostas in my urns already to make a big bow on top!

I loved the way it turned out!

I am not dead....I promise!!

So I have been MIA for a while now. Between my 8 hour a day job, my night time and weekend photography business, trying to get my house organized and cleaned (poorly), planning and cooking meals, discipleship group homework, working out, errands, my dad being in town, having a social life, and preparing for a new venture that is still in the works.... life has just gotten in the way!!!

So here is a quick update.....

1. I know I was supposed to post before and after pics of me on September 24th...I didn't because there was not much of a difference. I have not been consistent lately....BAD ME!! But it happens and you gotta just jump back in there so now is as good a time as any! I think I will post before and after pics on November 24th instead.

2. I wanted to be halfway down by October 6th for the FireFly run. I unfortunately was not. I am only to blame for that! So right now I am only 36 pounds down. I hope to be at least halfway or more by November 10th. Why November 10th...I am going to the Virgin Islands and will be wearing a bathing suit!!!

3. I joined a dance studio. It's more than that though. They have yoga, pilates, zumba, ballet barre, and many other fun classes. Tonight I am attending the Piloxing (Pilates/Boxing) class and then doing the ballet barre after that. I needed something new. Just walking/jogging was not doing anything and I was getting really bored. I think that's why I fell off the wagon.

4. I am heading to Arkansas for a week on Saturday. I will be working my regular 8 hour a day job, I have 12 sessions for my photography business, seeing friends and family, AND trying to get in a daily workout. With that said I will need some major prayers for the workouts cause it's SOOO easy to say forget it when you are that busy! I am really excited for this trip though!

So unfortunately this post wasn't an exciting "I've lost 50 pounds" post, but I figured I'd update you and get back on the saddle!

Grandma's visit

I have THE BEST GRANDMA in the WORLD! There is no competition. She is absolutely amazing. So funny, kind, sweet, and LOVING! 

She came to visit me in 2005. She is 90 years old so traveling this far is not easy. She was here for 10 days this time and we had a blast!

We went and watched the Razorbacks at a sports bar!

She helped us with Emily's tea party! 

We went on a tour of the antebellum houses in Roswell, GA!

Finally went to Greenwoods for their famous fried chicken! (It's AMAZING!)

She caught up on her reading! I think she read at least 5 of these!

Went up to our cabin for the weekend and I watched Sound of Music with her! (Her favorite movie)

Sat on the porch at the cabin and watched the sun go down!

Went to the apple barns in N. Georgia and ate fried apple pies and drank muscadine slushies!

Went on a mile hike next to the Amicolola River!

She taught me how to make peach jam!

 Went to Marietta Diner!

Clean Eating Cobb Salad

I had never eaten a cobb salad until recently. To be honest I had never really eaten a salad until recently. You see I am the pickiest eater on the planet. I don't like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, peppers....pretty much every thing that goes on a salad! I slowly started to eat baby spinach with strawberries, sweet and salty pecans, salmon, and blue cheese. Then I started expanding. When I say expanding I mean, eating field green salads and choosing a salad with pears and gorgonzola!! So expanding is probably not the correct word!!

Since my husband loves cobb salads I decided to make one. I mean I like cheese, eggs, turkey, bacon...sounds pretty darn good to me. (I left the tomatoes off mine) I liked this salad so much I could eat it everyday!!!

I am not going to give measurements on what I used because it's kind of up to you. It all depends on how many you are making and what you want.

This is what I used.......

Clean Eating Cobb Salad
Baby Spinach
Grape Tomatoes
Avocados
Reduced Fat Blue Cheese
Hard Boiled Eggs
Clean Turkey Bacon crumbled
Clean Turkey Deli Meat
Clean Parmesan Croutons
Clean Chipotle-Avocado Vinaigrette 

Clean Chipotle-Avocado Vinaigrette

I had a salad recently at a restaurant called Grace 1720. It was a seafood cobb salad and it was one of the best salads I have ever had. The dressing it came with was an ancho-chili vinaigrette. It was the perfect blend of sweet and spicy.

This evening I decided to make a cobb salad. My husband grew up on them. He said it's one of the main memories he has of his grandmother, Viola. She used Ott's dressing on hers. I searched high and low for the ingredients list of Ott's Red Dressing and couldn't find it anywhere. I know it's similar to French dressing, but I wanted to try to recreate the real thing. Since I don't like French dressing (or Ott's for that matter) I decided to try to recreate the ancho-chili vinaigrette I had at Grace 1720 so we could both eat it.



This is what I came up with from ingredients I could find in my fridge and pantry.....

Clean Chipotle-Avocado Vinaigrette
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
2 tbls of raw honey
1/4 tsp of garlic salt
1 tsp of chipotle powder (this makes it a little on the spicy side. Reduce to 1/2 tsp if you don't like spicy, but I liked the spice with the salad. I couldn't have taken it on it's own though...I am a baby!)
1 package of 100 calorie packs of Wholly Guacamole

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until thoroughly mixed.

Clean Eating Parmesan Croutons

If you are coming here to find out how to accidentally make clean croutons, you have come to the right place!!

Last week I made these croutons by accident. I was making my husband and I some clean garlic bread to go with our meal. Well I turned off the oven and then never took the bread out. The next day I went to put something in the oven and there was our garlic bread.....hard! I almost threw it away and then thought wait, I can use this as croutons. I cut it up in crouton size pieces and tried one....and the clean eating crouton was born!!!

Remember these have to be made the night before. (You could probably cook them on a lower temp for a longer amount of time and make them the same day. I have not tested this though)

Clean Eating Parmesan Crouton
1 piece of clean bread (I got mine from the farmers market. It was a whole wheat sourdough so it was a larger piece of bread. Use 2 pieces if yours is a small piece)
1.5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp of oregano
1/8 tsp of garlic salt
1 tbls of shredded parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350.
Using a pastry brush, brush olive oil on bread. Even sprinkle oregano, garlic salt, and parmesan.
Lay bread right on the grate in the oven and back for 20 minutes. Then turn oven off and take the bread out the next day. I suggest putting a note on the oven.

Mine have been in plastic container for 4 days and they are still hard. I used them on the clean cobb salad with clean chipotle-avocado vinaigrette I made last night and they were very good. Gave it a nice crunch.