date night in our own kitchen

life has been busy lately
i've rarely had a moment to sit down and open up my lappy.
it's a good feeling knowing i'm staying busy and for the most part my body is keeping up with me.

friday night we decided we'd go grocery shopping
{for some reason i usually dread it.....}
and we bought ingredients to spend the night in the kitchen cooking an elaborate meal.
gratefully i've married a man who knows how to cook and he pitches in frequently.
oddly enough i think cooking for a large family or group is more enjoyable than for just us two.
i changed my mind though as we cooked side by side for date night.
if only we had enough energy to do date night like this more often.....
we made chicken avocado egg rolls and chow mien.
my favorite was the egg rolls!!
seriously they were divine!
{my momma bear was shocked when i let her try a bite from my lunch on saturday. see momma, i can cook if i put my mind to it}
i can't think of a better way to have spent our night.
it was the perfect way to spend time together bonding and eating delicious food!

a few things I want to remember

Saturday night Mitch took me to finally buy the beautiful red lawn chairs I've been dreaming about for over a year. Can't wait for the weather to warm up again and enjoy evenings in the back yard.

Opening up our windows and enjoying a cross breeze of the fresh spring air.

Mitch wanting to take a short night walk with the boys. It was perfect. Holding hands, the spring night and spending time together. Love.

Listening to to the frogs on the back road to the lake. Nanna and I were in love when we drove out their a few weeks ago. Now I pull over when I drive past and soak in their songs.

Working in my yard and puttering around is super therapeutic. I love gardening.

My endearing nick name from Mitchel... he calls me snuggles or snuggle bunny. It always makes me smile.

Falling in love with chocolate chip cookies. We are on the search for the perfect recipe....

the way my body feels after a good workout or a calming yoga practice. I feel amazing.

Craving Green...

I'm am so eager for spring and summer right now. I don't want to wish my year away... but I am in need of some greenery in my life! Luckily as I walk through my yard and look at my flower beds I'm seeing signs of spring. I've got tulips and crocus starting to grow. My columbine and Poppies are starting to peak out. Plus my helleborus is budding up and I can't wait for it to bloom!

At work in the greenhouse I love the thick, lush baby tears that cover the floor. It helps with my 'winter blues'.

Yesterday I had the morning off. I headed to Yoga at 8. It's the perfect way to start my day. I find that it helps calm my mind and body and I am able to manage my days better. Once I got home I made my favorite breakfast - Eggs in a basket with avocado. YUM!! Vacuumed and tidied the house some. Did the dishes and put dinner in the crock pot. Mitch and I fell in love with a recipe I found on Pinterest - Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken . It's amazing!!! We've made it twice already and the second time was even better. My two favorite herbs have to be Basil and Cilantro. So when I made it the second time I couldn't resist adding EXTRA cilantro :) Plus I set some aside to add on top when serving. I also had some fresh corn I froze last summer and thought it would be a great addition... which it was! I also made smoothies for lunch. Left one for Mitch in the fridge with a love note on it. I will definitely have to fresh double the amount of raspberries I did this year. {25 cups was definitely not enough}. 

Since it was Friday we made it a fabulous date night. We headed to Costco to pick up a Ninja blender. HOORAY! My little blender just wasn't cutting it for making smoothies anymore. I can't wait to smoothie it up at our house. I'm especially in love with green smoothies lately. {any good recipes?? send them my way please}. Then we headed to the gym to get our cardio on. I can jog almost 2 miles straight now. I feel accomplished. And then did some weights. Dinner was ready when we got home. It was delicious. {You seriously need to click the recipe link above and make it this coming week!} And for the most exciting news of the whole month.... KISSING is back one. Holla!! Since Mitch seems to finally be fighting mono, he gave in to kissing me :) I'm in heaven. Best Friday night in the last month for sure!!

Now if only I was able to take a super long nap today.... Maybe I'll be in luck tomorrow - Sunday.

Tomato soup: My Favorite ever

I grew up with homemade tomato soup.

It really was the best.

Campbells soup?! NO THANK YOU.

{Yucky}

Recently I 'perfected' it though :)

And I'm dying to share the goodness!

It's super easy.

 INGREDIENTS:

1 quart canned tomatoes

1 pint half and half

4 oz cream cheese

Blend tomatoes until they are super smooth

Pour into sauce pan

Add lots of half and half.

{I usually use 3/4 of the pint}

and 4oz of cream cheese

Warm.

You will want to whisk the it until everything is smooth

Enjoy!

With delicious grilled cheese of course :)

Grateful November

November is here.

Gratitude is on our minds.

A few things I'm grateful for right now.

Health Insurance. 

Finding out about some health issues that I've passed off as everyday things.

{More to come on that}

My incredible husband!! He truly is the best. I'm very grateful for him.

Family.

A good job.

Energy.

The internet.

Wonderful bloggy friends!!

Medicine and natural remedies.

My darling boys. 

A warm bed and home.

Healthy foods.

What are you grateful for??

Flavors of Fall

Last night Mitch and I made our favorite stuffed pork chilies. Yum!! Coming home and smelling the pork slow cooking, smelling the chilies roasting in the oven, and then making the sauce ... We were in heaven. I really truly love fall! It's a magical time. And all the delicious food with fresh harvest makes for a rockstar dinner.

------------------------------

I'm tired today. It's only Tuesday but there is so much on my long list of to do's. My peaches are ready to can or freeze. Beans are perfect for dilling. I got perfect tiny cucumbers for pickling. Weeding, yard work, cleaning the house. Maybe I can manage to leave work at 4.

**What are your favorite fall flavors??**

Tuesday Goodness & green guardian

Work. Lots of washing fresh produce. Cucumbers. Tomato sorting. Picking berries with my mamma and tomatoes.
Hubby texted. How about we get the house and yard work done tonight... Which do you want - inside or outside?? Um. Inside please. {I already spent 2 hours outside picking. I wanted some AC baby}
I cleaned up the backyard once I got home. Mitch finishes mowing. He EVEN weeding a bit for me in the front yard :) now that's a rad husband!! I watered everything. I found my garden guardian friend. Yay for green guardians.
While I cleaned inside mitch totally hooked us up and made homemade bacon cheeseburgers for dinner on the grill. Inredibly yummy! Finished cleaning and then washed and prepped my raspberries for freezing. Yay!! I got just over 9 cups of berries all tucked away in the freezer!! Have I told you how much I love harvest season??! Well I LOVE love LOVE harvest season.
Happy Tuesday folks :) I'm off to snuggle with my men.

How was your day?!

Mine was ...

7 am wake up. Laundry. Dilly beans. 7 pints. Cleanup back yard. Weeding and dead heading. Mitch comes home for lunch. Abby comes out to visit. Mowing the backyard. Leashing the boys. Going to the lake with Abby for a walk with the boys. Lots of sunshine. Lots of panting. Dropping the boys off at home. Grabbing happy hour. I love me a coke and lime. Sharing abby's kneaders sandwich. Yummy. Vacuuming. Putting away laundry. Showering and calling it a day. Relaxed. Quick trip to the grocery store with mitch. Double rainbow. Hobo dinners {mitch calls them tin foil dinners}. Goodness. Lots of puppy snuggles. Shark week. Thinking of an early bedtime.

{so yea...}

Both Mitch and I struggled to survive the day with just the lemonade and fresh fruit and vegetables. Good golly. We caved for dinner! We are people who need food to survive our day, to make it through our work days.

Dinner was wonderful! Steamed fresh from the garden green beans, battered and fried zucchini with chicken and rice. It was a lighter dinner and filling.

We are thinking we'll just stick with fresh juiced healthy goodness :)

Lesson learned- Cleanses are definitely not for wussies.

Have you had any success with a cleanse?

{my weekend}

I had a wonderful weekend!! I was able to squeeze another Saturday off in :) {won't be happening again... any time soon. sigh} But it was pretty great! Mitch owed me a can of paint for my office. So 10 am sharp.... I finally woke him up with the help of the boys. Cezar loves his good mornings! He can't wait until he's allowed into the bedroom, helped up on the bed {we are trying to teach him how to jump on the bed... he's so small. lol} and then smothers you with kisses and sits pretty much on top of your head. It's pretty adorable and charming. Hopefully he doesn't grow much more :) Finally I'm able to drag Mitch out of the house and on the way to Home Depot. They had the perfect color of paint. Cozumel Teal/Blue. I LOVE IT!!! We also checked out the grand opening of Hobby Lobby in AF. We've never been. I fell in love with a beautiful white decorative frame.... I think I need to go back and get it :) It'll match my office. Then we headed home to pick up the 'Hero' cake for Sanna and the finished perennial labels for our Spanish ladies. Plus we were picking up Nanna from work to hang out with us for the afternoon.

We were able to see my grandparents new home {and are SO relieved with the saving of the floor upstairs. ugly linoleum} and seeing the plans for the fireplace and hardware for the cabinets. It's going to be pretty sweet when finished. {Super glad I'll be spending my time in the greenhouse at the store during the move!! Have fun other family members lol.}

For lunch we decided to try out Dickey's BBQ in AF. We are all in LOVE with it!! It's a inexpensive Good Wood. We will definitely be going back!! Then Nanna and Mitch decided we need a cookie run to Smart Cookie. They have the BEST Lemon Cookies and Sugar Cookies and pretty much any cookie is amazing there!!

FINALLY we made it back to the house so I could pop open my paint can and bust out my paint skills. Nanna and I made good progress. Even with her helping Mitch with the attempt to switch out our bathroom switches for cooler ones. {no success in the end... but the switches in the bathroom still work.... the hall light not so much} It was a good day.

PS I really honestly hate taping to paint! I am so cool.... I had edge everything!!
It's pretty amazing.

We also picked up a couple cases of bottled water. I feel the need to be prepared in case of an emergency or a disaster. It's a start. And we took on the task of cleaning out our pantries {we turned our coat closet into more pantry space} and getting rid of the old stuff and organizing it. On the up side we also have a better idea of what we have and need to get. It felt SO good!! I wanna open up my pantry doors every time I walk by :) so I can admire my work. lol. I'm so grateful we were both raised with parents who know the importance of storage and having things on hand!! One step at a time. We feel confident we could easily last a week if not a few more. {everything might not taste incredible but we'd be fine :) lol} We have more things planned for storage and it makes me happy!! {See Mom I did learn something from you ;) }

This afternoon... Cezar made progress in jumping on the bed by himself :) Proud mommy moment for me. lol. I hope he continues to remember. He seems to forget how to jump as silly as it seems. I love my boys. They make me so happy and I love spending time as a little family curled up in bed watching Harry Potter :)

{Someday we'll add human babies to the mix... I promise Moms ;) }

I was also successful... in cooking corned beef and potatoes in honor of st. patties day this week. I feel so cool when I'm successful in cooking meals that always seemed like it was a mommy's job to make. YEA. Like the one time I cooked a thanksgiving turkey by myself and had Mitch's parents over. It was yummy!! :)

AND I made appointments for visiting teaching tonight. I feel very accomplished and look forward to seeing my ladies this week. I'm even giving the lesson. :)

Slowly but surely I'm making one step at a time and making progress every day :)

How was your weekend??? Please tell.

{Pork Barbacoa}

BEST RECIPE EVER! Mitch and I loved this recipe!! We gave it a 10 for a home cooked meal! Don't get me wrong -- we enjoy ourselves some Cafe Rio... but this comes pretty darn close for a homemade meal!! {It cost us maybe $15 too}

{Pork Barbacoa Burrito}

4lbs boneless pork roast (we ended up buying a bone in pork roast -- lots cheaper and worked just as good)

5 - 8oz tomato sauce

1/2 brown sugar

4 cups Dr Pepper

3 tsp garlic powder

4 tsp cumin

sour cream

molasses (we didn't have any and couldn't justify buying it -- subbed with syrup :) lol)

lettuce

- mix 3 tsp garlic powder, 4 tsp cumin, 3 tsp molasses, 1/2 cup brown sugar (I recall Mitch added a bit more for sweetness) 5 cans tomato sauce and 4 cups Dr. Pepper in a large bowl.

- pour misture over pork roast and cook in crock pot on low for 6-7 hours.

- shred meat, return to crock pot and cook 1 hour in the sauce on low.

- keep warm until ready to serve.

- garnish with shredded cheese, lettuce and sour cream.

Mitch and I wanted to make this as close to Cafe Rio as we could, so we cooked up some rice and warmed some black beans. We also picked up uncooked tortillas and cooked them and melted cheese on them. We took some of the sauce and added some chili pepper to it to help spice it up.

Then we filled the tortillas with the rice, beans and pork, rolled it up and smoothered it with sauch and cheese. Warmed it in the oven (microwave works too) and put some lettuce on the side. It was wonderful!!! They were filling and made great left overs as well!! When we had them for left overs I couldn't finish my burrito so I covered it and reheated it the next day for lunch. Still great! The tortilla wasn't super soggy either :)

PS it seems to get sweeter as it sits in the fridge! Golly I'm hungry just from thinking about it! Definitely one of our favorite recipes!!

Sunny Wednesday

I love days off!! It was incredibly cold this morning!! Mitch texted me on his way to work to let me know it was 3 degrees outside! Holy freezing!! As I pulled back the curtains, I saw a frost build up on the inside of the window! I don't know about you but I really want some warmer weather!!! Dear spring hurry up and get here!!

Its been a productive day! Remember the shot from my closet the other day?? I decided to fold my clothes and do ALL the laundry :)

My bed called to me all day! Do you ever have a day where your bed is 10x more comfy and inviting than normal?? Yea that was how my bed was today :)

I vacuumed and made my 'perfect' vacuum lines lol. I only wish they lasted longer :) I also cleaned my entire kitchen!! Its beautiful now!! :)

We found a recipe for pork barbacoa.... ran to the store last night for ingredients and I crocked it all day. OH MY GOSH!! It was wonderful!!!! My tummy is so FULL!! I'll post pictures and the recipe later!!

The boys kept me company all day :) I love spending so much time with them and they are better behaved with all the attention too!

I also burnt my finger while adding some curls in my hair :( At least I look cute :)

I kept the camera on me all day. It was nice. I was able to catch a lot of great photos. What I was really hoping for is a warmer day so I could've taken the boys down to the lake to walk them and photograph. Oh well there's always another day.

Last nights dinner

So here is the recipe I tried out last night. We'd give it 3 1/2 stars. I didn't have any hot pepper and I really think that would have given it the extra boost that I was looking for. I did however saute some diced roma tomatoes with the garlic and onions. I'd definitely try it again and see if I couldn't play it up more :) I would recommend it to try for sure though! Let me know what you think! Oh and I also didn't know if I was supposed to drain the fat and oil from cooking the bacon, I left it in the pan. Next time I will drain it and add extra oil olive :)


Spaghetti with Garlic, Onion and Pancetta: Spaghetti alla Gricia
Recipe copyright 2000, Mario Batali. All rights reserved.
Prep Time:
20 min
Inactive Prep Time:
--
Cook Time:
20 min
Level:
--
Serves:
4 servings

Ingredients
1 tablespoon plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small piece dried chile pepper, crushed
1/2 pound guanciale, may substitute bacon or pancetta, diced
1small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pound spaghetti
Salt and pepper
Pecorino Romano, for grating
Directions
In a 12 to 14-inch saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat. Add the chile pepper and pancetta and render the fat from the pork. Remove the pancetta, reserving on a plate lined with paper towels. Add the remaining oil, onion and garlic and cook gently until golden brown, discarding the chile. Return the pancetta to the pan and keep warm.
Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Cook the spaghetti in the boiling water until tender yet al dente. Drain the pasta and add to the saute pan with the pancetta. Grate the pecorino over, toss over high heat 1 minute, and serve, divided evenly among 4 warmed pasta bowls.

Favorite part of January

The one thing we look forward to most in January is the Car show at the South Town Expo Center!!! We abosolutely love it! It is so much fun looking at all the new models and dreaming of all the cars we'd love to own some day. I especially enjoyed it this year because we've been talking about what would be my next car. I'm wanting an SUV and we decided that the new Extera by Nissan is a perfect fit for us :) Oh the fun of day dreaming!


This morning I woke up with the most head splitting headache :( I could barely get out of bed. However, we were good and made it to sacrament. It was ward conference and I really enjoyed the speakers. My favorite was learning to listen to the Holy Ghost. Unfortunately that was all I could do. {The screaming children were murder for my head} So we came home and I went to sleep. I woke up to Mitch cooking us lunch :) I have the sweetest, most amazing husband ever! He has even taken upon himself to wash all the laundry today! Luckily my headache faded through the afternoon.


Now I'm attempting to keep up at my goals for the year and am cooking dinner. I'm making a Spaghetti with garlic, onions and bacon :) Sounds delicious! It smells wonderful so far, I'm hoping it tastes just as amazing. If it does... I'll pass the recipe on.