Good bye Ox, hello Tiger!

Wow, this was one crazy year with many ups and downs for everyone. As
I wait for dinner at the Geisha House and ring in the new year
watching some magical fireworks over the happiest place on earth I
cAn't help but be thankful for everything we have at this moment! I
hope we can say goodbye to all the bad moments of 2009 and hope 2010
brings us all prosperity in love, happiness, incomes, and laughter!

Linda

Finally coming clean...

Dear anyone who still somewhat comes here,

I'm sorry I've been soo horrible the last three months and not writing at all in here. You see, I've been kinda busy sleeping and resting. At the moment there's a little energy sucker who is residing somewhere in my abdomen. Luckily it's finally learning not to steal all my energy as much and I'm finally able to keep my eyes open longer and not feel like I just ran a half marathon when I just walked twenty steps from my car to the couch. Now that we finally passed the first trimester, I can finally spread the news and blog again.

Thank you for being so patient and sticking around! I pinky swear I will once again start blogging regularly! Oh, how I've missed this!

Hugs,

LMP

P.S. I finally fixed the nastiness linkage problems on the blog...

Just a little upkeep

While it's 85 degrees outside, I'm inside dreaming of winter. Right now our room looks like this:


When winter nights hit, we will freeze freeze because the down blanket we've been getting away will with will only heat us up so much. I think it will be time to pull out the comforter. This is the beauty that's been catching my eye:


Source

Do you change out your linens to suit for cooler temps?

Clean Up

I am happy to report I finally cleaned our computer area in our media room. This is what it looked like before I got to it:



Papers all over the place, things stacked on top of each other. No place to sit... this is hardly a work space. After an hour of sorting and sifting, I finally got it to a place where I can finally not twitch every time I pass by it.

Turkey Meatloaf w/ sauteed Spaghetti Squash Recipes

Turkey Meatloaf (serves 6)

1.25 lbs ground lean turkey
1 egg
1/8 cup bread crumbs
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp Seasoning Salt
1 tsp Paprika
1.5 tbsp water
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven 350°F.
2. Mix ingredients together
3. Spray cupcake pan and place mix into cups.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve with a touch of BBQ sauce for an extra little kick!


Sauteed Butter Herb Spaghetti Squash

1 small Spaghetti squash
1 tablespoons I can't believe it's not butter
1 tablespoons finely chopped mixed soft herbs, such as basil, chives, parsley and sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven 375°F.
2. Cut squash down in half and with a spoon, take out the seeds.
3. Lightly spray it Pam and place on pan in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until brown. (goes faster in a toaster oven).
4. Once baked, set it aside to cool.
5. In a pan, heat up the rest of the ingredients
6. When able to touch it, using a fork or spoon, gently pull the strands of squash away from the peel and place the squash strands into the pan.
7. Toss squash around to get coated.
8. Serve immediately or cover to keep warm.

Results:




Nutrition
Turkey Meatloaf (Per Serving)



Sauteed Butter Herb Spaghetti Squash (Per Serving)

Trail Mix

We're big snackers at the planner household. While at the farmer's market, the hubby asked if we could get fruit for trail mix. We bought some apples and bananas, and used the peaches we already had at the house. After cutting everything up we put them in the dehydrater. This is one of our favorite random kitchen gadgets! After 12+ of waiting, everything was done. Once we took everything off the racks, we packaged it up in small little baggies. Also in the trail mix is our homemade granola, serving of almonds (salted), a few chocolate chips, a few peanut butter chips, and a small pinch of walnuts.








Ohhh sooo good! Do you make snacks at home?

Honey-Balsamic Chicken Recipe

If you're looking for something super easy to make in advance, this is a good one!

Honey-Balsamic Chicken

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
12 oz of lean chicken breast (about 4 chicken cutlets)
A few dashes of Poultry Seasoning, Seasoning Salt
1 Garlic clove (minced)



1. Mix wet ingredients together with garlic
2. Place chicken in pan and season it.
3. Pour mixture on top of chicken and cover it. Let it sit overnight.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375°F and bake fore 20 minutes (or until brown).

This goes great with sauteed veggies or sweet potatoes!

Outcome:


Nutrition
Honey-Balsamic Chicken (per serving)

Random facts

It's been a while since i posted some random facts about lil 'ol me so here goes:

I've begun planning another big vacation. Between now and when we actually go on said trip I think we will have gone on two other small trips. :)

On my desk are tickets to Knott's Scary Farm. I've been there 9 years, and will be going my 10th time!

I currently have 15 magazines at home I haven't touched.

My favorite NEW show this summer was The Colony. We LOVE LOVE LOVED IT!

This weekend is the annual garage clean up. During this time, all seven boxes (yes 7!) of Halloween goodies will be brought down from the rafters!

I'm in desperate need to a closet clean up. I keep adding things but have yet to take things out to give away

My favorite shoes in the world are a pair of 5 inch heels. They are soo comfy! Kudos to Michael Kors on the designing them!

Second favorite pair are black flip flops

I've sketched out 5 different landscape designs for the backyard. I can't wait till it's December so we can start the remodel!!!

I love to read my Google reader while I'm working out.

I get anxiety when I don't have a lunch made for work the night before. It's the OCD in me!

Have a fabulous Thursday!!!