Do you get enough?

Water... we all need it, but how much do you really need?  When I was younger I was told you are supposed to drink 8-10 (8 ounce) glasses per day.  Then I heard you are supposed to drink half your body weight in water.  So which is it?  I googled it and here's what I found.

On this site you answer several different questions to determine your body type, your environment and your exercise routine. Then it gives you a number of ounces you should be drinking dependent upon your answers.  According to this one I should be drinking 143 ounces of water per day!  Holy crap that's 17.8 (8 ounce) glasses of water a day!  I have a hard enough time drinking 20 ounces of water per day!  I am just not a water drinker - although it is improving!

Amazing I tried this site and it gave me the same results!  It doesn't go as in depth with the questions, but never the less the end result was the same.

Then I googled "water consumption for weight loss" and this site gives you the percentage to figure out your required ounces per day.  Not only that but it gives you some great tips to help you get in all that water in the day.  By far this has been my favorite site.

One tip I heard years ago is any time you want something to drink other than water - drink a glass of water first.  It's easy to make rules for yourself, but much harder to follow them.  You have to be strong!  You CAN do it!!!  

Benefits to drinking water:

• Weight loss - drinking water before a meal helps to control the calories you are consuming by helping you feel fuller.  
• Youthful skin - staying hydrated helps keep those fine lines & wrinkles at bay.
• Functioning muscles - your muscles need fluids to perform properly.  Drink at least 2 glasses before a work out and plenty during your workout.
• Brain power - water keeps your brain functioning as it should & is also a mood elevator.
• Headache reducer - notice when you have a headache many times it's because you are dehydrated.  Your body is telling you to drink more water.
• Constipation relief - when your body is fully hydrated you're less likely to become constipated.

If you need help getting your daily quota in you can add some fresh lemon, lime or cucumbers to give it a new flavor.  Don't forget to eat your fruit and veggies - about 20% of our daily water consumption comes from the foods that we are eating!  Now there's food for thought.  ;)

According to this blog watermelon has the most water content.  The folks over at health.com have this list of the 15 foods that help you stay hydrated.  With cucumbers being #1 with 96.7% water.  I love some sliced cucumbers just to munch on!

This Cucumber Caprese Salad would make a delicious light lunch!!

H2O to ya!

~K

Planet Fitness

I recently got a membership to Planet Fitness.  Today was day 2.  I thought for sure that the 30 minute circuit was going to give me a heart attack!  :)  But I did it and I survived.  Not only did I do that, I also did 15 minutes on the elliptical.  Now I am on the lookout for good workout music.  This is what I have so far:

• Everybody Talks - Neon Trees
• Hey Baby - Pitbull
• Maps - Maroon 5
• Let's Go - Calvin Harris & Ne-Yo
• Bad - Michael Jackson
• Summer - Calvin Harris
• Feel This Moment - Pitbull/Christina Aguilera
• Good Feeling - Flo Rida
• Scream - Usher
• Lucky Strike - Maroon 5
• Womanizer - Brittney Spears
• Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO
• Push It - Salt 'n Pepa
• Shake It Off - Taylor Swift
• It Takes Two - Rob Base
• Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar
• Happy - Pharrell Williams
• Smooth Criminal - Michael Jackson
• You Make Me Feel - Cobra Starship
• American Woman - Lenny Kravitz
• Blow - Kesha
• Let's Get It Started - The Black Eyed Peas
• Sugar - Maroon 5
• Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke
• Wake Me Up - Avicli
• Love Runs Out - One Republic
• Stronger - Kelly Clarkson
• Treasure - Bruno Mars
• Animals - Maroon 5
• Counting Stars - One Republic
• All About That Base - Meghan Trainor
• Give Me Everything - Pitbull
• We Found Love - Rihanna
• Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
• Locked Out of Heaven - Bruno Mars
• Feel So Close - Calvin Harris
• Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5
• I Love It - Icona Pop
• Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars
• Butterfly - Crazy Town
• Applause - Lady GaGa
• I Like It - Enrique Iglesias
• Sweet Child O'Mine - Guns 'N Roses
• Now That We Found Love - Heavy D & the Boyz
• Lips Are Movin - Meghan Trainor
• Timber - Pitbull/Kesha
• You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
• Beat It - Michael Jackson
• I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
• According to You - Orianthi

Enjoy the tunes & please feel free to comment with your favorite workout tunes!

~K

Off plan... (recipe!)

So last night's dinner was homemade pizza.  Those of you who read my weekly menu plan know that pizza was not on that list.  That's the great thing about it, I can deviate from my plan with out it being a huge ordeal.  I had to pick up cheese for the meal, but I had everything else here.  I made the crusts - with some improvising to the recipe that I found, made some quick pizza sauce and there it is. Easy peasy.  Sometimes even with the best laid out plan improvising is the best!

I bought a thing of goat cheese from Costco so I have 2 things of it to use up.  (I am totally in love with the flavor!)  So my pizza was goat cheese, fresh tomato & fresh spinach.  Hubby had canadian bacon, turkey pepperoni, peppers & onion.  Little man had turkey pepperoni.  I used one dough and divided into 3, I rolled it pretty thin and it puffed up nicely - be sure to poke the dough otherwise it resembles pita bread...lol Not speaking from experience or anything. :)  

Recipe credits

I told hubby & little man that we are changing things up.  There will be no more eating out - except once a month.  Last night would have been easy to give in.  Little man wanted to have Little Caesars for dinner - I mean it's only $5 a pizza, right....  I spent $2.50 on cheese and got homemade pizza that is MUCH better than Little Caesars.  We pay too much money for convenience.  Which is why I am trying to add pre-made ready to go (homemade) items to my freezer.  The Bean & Cheese Burritos that I have for this weeks meals is a perfect example.  I am going to make enough for dinner, but I will also be making extras that I will put in baggies and freeze so that if we need dinner in a hurry or just want something other than a sandwich for lunch we can take one out and heat and BOOM! there's dinner or lunch.  Homemade & I know what's in it.  Not to mention our wallets will like it too!    Have no fear there is a post in the near future about make ahead meals.  

Pizza Dough

Ingredients 

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2/3 cup lukewarm water ( plus an additional 2 tbsp)

Directions

1. Mix 1 cup of flour with all other ingredients.
2. Gradually add 2nd cup of flour until it forms a ball. Use your hands to form and knead the dough.
3. Let the dough rest 10-15 minutes in a bowl covered with a dish towel or saran to keep it warm.
4. Spread out onto greased pizza pan and top with your favorite toppings.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Halloween DIY

Who doesn't love a little bit of fun with this time of year?  It's that time of year you get to use silly decor around your house and not be judged for it. ;)  As I've said before, I love Pinterest....I mean who doesn't?  (Even my husband likes it..now that he's finally tried it.)  In my search of all things Halloween on Pinterest I came across this door hanger.  All it takes is:

• wooden letter
• googly eyes - various sizes
• hot glue
• spider webbing
• spiders
• ribbon

Now it's a very simple project but I won't lie - glueing the eyes on is time consuming.  You would think that being it's right before Halloween I wouldn't have any problems finding plastic spiders....yea not so much (and of course the bag of spider webbing I have doesn't have any it it).  Once you find the spiders you just place a few of them right there in the webbing and BOOM! you're done.  It makes for a fun DIY door hanger for Halloween.

Picky Eaters

Do you find yourself with a picky eater?  I have been blessed with children who aren't super picky.  Yes of course they each have things that they don't like, but for the most part they'll eat almost anything.  My youngest likes fresh carrots, but can't stand cooked carrots & he won't eat fish or shellfish (except coconut shrimp...gotta love it).  But he will eat a caesar salad - how many kids like caesar dressing?  Sneaking food in can be difficult, especially if they are anything like him.  He would always smell his food first and let me tell you his nose is incredible!!  Crazy incredible.  Which made it very difficult.  I fooled him once to eat halibut - told him it was chicken....yea that last about 2 bites in and he was NOT amused!

I ran across a post from another blogger about sneaking in veggies & thought I would share my thoughts on this.  You will notice that my sloppy joes have lots of veggies in them.  I don't necessarily add veggies to sneak them in for my kids - for my family it's been more about adding veggies so that we are getting enough on a daily basis.  Let's face it - it's easy to go an entire day without any veggies if you really wanted to.  I don't recommend it, but it is possible, especially for teenagers!  You will also see that my mac n cheese recipe (in this week's menu plan) has spinach in it & yet my 9 year old loves it!  We also do smoothies in the morning and I add some spinach to those as well.  For that you really do need a good blender that will get the spinach super fine so it's hard to see.  I have a Ninja
& LOVE it!

Another option I have tried and we really enjoy is making "noodles" out of zucchini.  I saute them in a little bit of olive oil and then just add some salt and pepper (sometimes some Italian seasonings) and serve with some pasta sauce of choice and it's delish! 9 Year old approved!  :)

This weekend I hope to make some chocolate zucchini muffins.  Another great way to get those veggies in.  Of course you are making a sweet bread but it does make for a great treat!  My son isn't fond of zucchini - once he sees I have made this he will ask me to make him some pumpkin bread - his all time favorite.  At least it has a ton of pumpkin in it too!!  :)

In the end it's really all about finding out what works for your family.  It will take a few trial runs but don't get discouraged.  Sometimes like it or not you just have to put your foot down.  I make my kids take 2 bites of food before they can tell me that they don't like it.  Even if they don't like it sometimes they have to eat it anyway - cooked carrots for example.  It's our job as parents to be sure that they are getting the nutrition that they need.  They might not like you for that moment, and that's OK you're the parent, not the friend.  :)

Dinner recap: last night we had the Honey Lemon Chicken.  The chicken breasts I used were a little small so in the end there wasn't a ton of meat, but just enough for the 3 of us.  I did chop up some fresh broccoli and add that to it, which was delicious!  My 9 year old thought it was too lemony.  So if you have a picky eater who might not like lemon I suggest 1/2 the amount of lemon and perhaps another tablespoon of the honey.  I thought it was great, but I love lemon.

Picture and recipe credit.

Basic Muffin Mix for the Pantry

Who wouldn't like a basic muffin mix that we can keep the dry ingredients mixed together in a canister in the pantry ready to use at a moments notice.  Like the ones you get from the grocery store, but you actually know what's in it rather than a list of ingredients that you can't pronounce.  Who wants that for their children?!

Convenience always seems to be a downfall for me.  I LOVE to make things from scratch, but there are times that I need something quick, because let's face it, from scratch is not quick - normally it's filled with a lot bigger mess too!  So here's a great cheat to delicious muffins!!  You make the basic mix and then when you're ready to make them you add your wet ingredients and any fun things too (berries, chocolate chips, poppy seed, nuts etc).  The possibilities for these muffins can be endless.  Below the recipe are notes for making different kinds of muffins.  Make a batch and put some in the freezer for those days you're in a rush to get out the door! Or add them to the kiddos lunch box for a special treat at lunch time!

Basic Muffin Mix

Ingredients

• 8 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS:
• 1 egg
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Store in airtight containers in a cool dry place or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Yield: 4 batches (11 cups).

• To prepare plain muffins: Place 2-3/4 cups muffin mix in a large bowl. Whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400° for 18-21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Serve warm.

The great thing about this muffin mix is that you can add in so many different ingredients to make all sorts of different muffins. Here are some of the different add-ins Taste of Home gives ideas and directions for: 

FOR BANANA MUFFINS:

• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)
• To prepare Banana Muffins: Place 2-3/4 cups muffin mix in a large bowl. Whisk the egg, milk, butter and bananas; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill muffin cups and bake as directed for plain muffins.

FOR BLUEBERRY MUFFINS:

• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• To prepare Blueberry Muffins: Place 2-3/4 cups muffin mix in a large bowl. Whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups and bake as directed for plain muffins.

FOR APRICOT-CHERRY MUFFINS:

• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• To prepare Apricot-Cherry Muffins: In a large bowl, combine 2-3/4 cups muffin mix, apricots and cherries. Whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill muffin cups and bake as directed for plain muffins.

FOR CAPPUCCINO MUFFINS:

• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
• To prepare Cappuccino Muffins: In a large bowl, combine 2-3/4 cups muffin mix, chocolate chips and coffee granules. Whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill muffin cups and bake as directed for plain muffins.

FOR CARROT-RAISIN MUFFINS:

• 3/4 cup shredded carrots
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• To prepare Carrot-Raisin Muffins: In a large bowl, combine 2-3/4 cups muffin mix, carrots and raisins. Whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill muffin cups and bake as directed for plain muffins.

FOR CRANBERRY-PECAN MUFFINS:

• 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• To prepare Cranberry-Pecan Muffins: In a large bowl, combine 2-3/4 cups muffin mix, cranberries, pecans and sugar. Whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill muffin cups and bake as directed for plain muffins.

FOR APPLE-CHEESE MUFFINS:

• 1/2 cup shredded apple
• 1/2 cup shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese
• To prepare Apple-Cheese Muffins: In a large bowl, combine 2-3/4 cups muffin mix, apple and cheese. Whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill muffin cups and bake as directed for plain muffins.

FOR RHUBARB-ORANGE MUFFINS:

• 3/4 cup diced fresh or frozen rhubarb
• 1/3 cup orange marmalade
• To prepare Rhubarb-Orange Muffins: In a large bowl, combine 2-3/4 cups muffin mix, rhubarb and marmalade. Whisk the egg, milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill muffin cups and bake as directed for plain muffins. Yield: 1 dozen per batch.

Happy Baking!

~K

A different kind of grilled cheese sandwich

Lunch is served!  When I first stumbled upon this sandwich I wasn't quite sure how good it was going to be.....  However it enticed me more than anything and I figured what the hell, it's worth a try!  I am so glad that I did!  Once you get past the cheese tearing up the bread everything about it is to die for!!  The combination of goat cheese and cucumber is amazingly fresh!  It is a filling yet light lunch that I am sure you will love!

Cucumber Goat Cheese Grilled Cheese!

Ingredients:

• Two slices sprouted wheat bread
• Two ounces goat cheese
• Sliced cucumber
• Coconut oil spray

That’s it! I used the coconut oil spray on the bread instead of butter to get a nice grill.

The sandwich was so fresh and delicious. It didn’t feel heavy like a regular grilled cheese sandwich. The cucumber added a great crisp as well. I’m totally hooked!

Enjoy!!

~K

Weekly Meal Plan

I have found that I am the most successful with my diet when I plan our weekly meals.  I used to plan for 2-3 weeks at a time, but I can't tell you how much food and money I threw away on veggies that went bad.  So now I plan my meals for one week along with grocery shop for one week.  You will have to devise a plan that works for you, but keep fresh veggies in mind when you do the shopping.

This week our menu will consist of:

• Bean & Cheese Burritos
• Sloppy Joes
• Baked Macaroni & Cheese
• Asian Turkey Meatballs
• Sticky Bourbon Chicken & Rice
• Honey Lemon Chicken
• Corn Bisque (upon special request by my 9 year old) - Family Recipe which means sorry the recipe won't be posted. 

Please note I try to give credit to where I got the recipes from.  Some of these recipes I've had for quite some time and no longer have any idea where I got the recipe from.  So I apologize in advance for not giving credit to someone for their recipe.  Also please note some recipes are my own and no need to give anyone else credit for the recipe.  :)

Find recipes here.

Happy Menu Planning

~K

Little Monsters

When I started this blog I thought it would be all about my weight loss...but it's morphed into more about me and my life of which weight loss & gain are a big part of that.  You are going to start finding lots of projects, recipes and anything else that I find worthy of talking about on here. :)  Enjoy! And please always feel free to comment & share with your friends!

I have been trying to take on some of my Pinterest projects lately.....  Because let's face it, we could pin and pin until we turn purple! :)  I love Pinterest, the idea that we can keep all of our ideas in one place and categorize them....  Finally!  LOL

So my nephew just had his first birthday and my sister said that she was going to do a "monster theme" for it.  Right after her and I talked about this I came across the cutest pattern (on Pinterest of course) for little monsters.  So of course I just had to make them!!  The easiest project I have come across yet and they turned out soooo stinkin' cute!!  All it takes is some time, felt, thread & stuffing.  I bought the the small sheets of felt that you can get at Michaels or even Walmart for .25 each.  It was perfect!!

I did sew the faces on primarily by hand.  I started to do it with the sewing machine and I am just not good enough yet to make that look good. :)  It's a working progress....one day I'll be that good!  Until then, I can do it by hand.  Slow and steady wins the race...right?

I was so excited about them that I sent a pic to my sister.  I was just going to surprise her and mail them, but I couldn't wait any longer.  Needless to say it sounds like they will be a hit and she loves them! I am sure my nephew will love them just as much!  He's 1,
how can he not?

As you can see I did the fronts and backs of each different colors to really give it that "monster" feel.

You can find the pattern here.

Happy Crafting!
~K

DIY Door Hanger

I don't know about you but I love Pinterest!  I have so many pins that I decided that it is time to start making some of those things!  The door decor is so popular right now and it adds that little something to your house that is so inviting.  I picked a relatively easy one to be my first.  I think the tricky part is buying a flower that isn't too big for the project you are working on.  I am not sure exactly how successful I was, but I am happy with my end project.  I also have to work on my bow making if I am going to use them at the top of these.  I hope that you have more success with that than I did.

What you will need:

• wooden letter
• hot glue gun & glue sticks
• yarn - color of your choice
• fake flower 
• ribbon of choice

You will need to hot glue the yarn to the top of the letter so that it stays in place & the begin to wrap it tightly around the letter.  There might be spots along the way that need to be glued, be sure to only use a drop of glue - using too much will lead to a huge mess.  Once yarn is wrapped tightly around the letter glue the end on the back so that it's not noticeable.  Glue the flowers of your choice to the letter.  Tie your ribbon into a bow and glue that on as well, don't forget to make a loop for hanging purposes.  My bow was sad looking so I added a few leaves and a flower to hide my mess.  

  

That's the wonderful thing about this project - you can add anything you want to it to make it your own.  Not to mention that it hides all the imperfections that are part of the process.  

Happy crafting!

~K

Football! (Recipes!)

Fall in the air means football, sweaters, warm cozy socks & soup in the crockpot!  Last night was the first "fall feeling" day.  So needless to say we had black bean soup, homemade french bread & peach cobbler.  The house smelled amazing! I am sharing these recipes with you so your house can smell just as amazing!  

Black Bean Soup

2 cans black beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1 onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 1/2 c. chicken stock

3 tsp. cumin

1 Package of turkey Kielbasa

2 tsp minced garlic

Salt & pepper to taste

Saute onions, red pepper, garlic & kielbasa.  Add 1 can of black beans to crockpot and smash with potato smasher.  Add 2nd can of beans, can of tomatoes, chicken stock, cumin, salt & pepper.  Mix.  Add sauted veggies & kielbasa.  Cook on low 6 hours.  

The french bread recipe I found on Food.com.  They are always my go-to place when I'm looking for a new recipe.  Normally I don't follow them exactly but thankfully this time I did!  YUM!!!

And finally here's the peach cobbler!

Peach Cobbler

1 1/2 quarts peaches (I use peaches I canned)

1/2 c. butter

2 c. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt butter in the oven in a 13x9 baking dish.  Heat peaches, 1 c. sugar & water to a boil.  Mix cornstarch with small bit of water and then slowly add to the peaches (this will thicken the mix). Simmer 10 minutes then add the cinnamon & nutmeg.  In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, remaining cup of sugar, vanilla & milk.  Mix well.  Pour flour mix over the melted butter.  Do not stir.  Spook peaches over the top & gently pour syrup.  Cook for 30-45 minutes.

And this is what I did with the left over peaches that wouldn't fit into the peach cobbler.  (Because I used the wrong size pan.)  :)  

Happy eats!

~K

Fall

It's hard to believe but summer is almost over.  I thought it went by fast last year, but this year I seemed to blink and it's August.  We didn't even get a vacation in this year...  Guess that will have to wait until next year.

That being said - I have started looking at Pinterest to find ideas for gifts this year.  I would like to be a step ahead this year instead of scrambling at the last minute.  We shall see how well that goes over...LOL!  I am going to start using my FB page that I created a ways back: All Things Pinterest.  This is where I will be posting my attempts to make Pinterest happen in my home.  :)

I bought these cute signs at Michaels last week for my office.  Organizing and cleaning that space will be happening soon!  This week it's going through little man's clothes and preparing to go school shopping.  Most of the supplies are bought...now it's clothes and shoes.

Enjoy your day!!

~K

Dealing with Stress Eating

Why is it that eating and stress seem to go hand in hand?  The key is to learn to control what we let stress us out.  Now I've been volunteering a lot at my son's school and in fact I am running to be on the board of the program he's in at school.  There is a group of folks that just seem to hate not matter what it is you do.  They have taken a simple question that I asked and blown it up in huge proportions.  Not only did they totally misunderstand but they are relaying their misinformation to other parents. Now normally something like this would stress a person out, well it would have me years ago.  Today I don't feel like it's stressing me out.  I makes me sad the choices they've made and it makes me mad that they are just trying to make waves and stir the pot now....Even though they are where they are because of choices they made.  So handling the stress is becoming a little easier, thank God.  Now to handle the eating a little easier!  LOL  

I believe the biggest thing for me is I don't care what others think of me anymore.  I have really just gotten to the point that I don't give a shit what they think. Does God love me? YES!  Do I love myself? Yes.  Does my husband love me? Yes.  Do my children love me? Yes.  Does my family love me? Yes.  Do my friends love me? Yes.  Does anyone else matter? NO!  That my friends is the honest truth.  I recently dyed my hair.  I mean I went from a dark blonde color (roots had grown out about 8 inches) and bleached it a really really light blonde, the underneath is a chocolate brown and I have a bright pink streak in it.  Do I care if everyone else likes it? NO!  Do I like it? YES!  That's all that matters. You have to get  yourself to the point that you don't care what everyone else thinks.  That helps to eliminate the stress.  Learn to love yourself the way you are right now.  I mean really love yourself no matter what.  It doesn't happen overnight, but it can happen.  I'm still a work in progress but with every day it gets easier and easier.  You can do it!!

My sister introduced me to a book called "Trim Healthy Mama".  I have been reading the electronic version and I am enjoying it.  However, I did order the paperback version because with recipes I just do better to have it in front of me so that I can flag pages and highlight and all that jazz.  Now don't get me wrong I know you can do that with the electronic version too, but for me it's just not the same.  Anywhoo, my book should be here today or tomorrow and I am excited to try some of these recipes.  I can't wait to compare it all to my own recipes.  I'm a little curious how well I will lose if I follow their eating habits.  I have read mixed reviews of it so it will be interesting to say the least.  And hey, at least I know I'll get some good food out of it.  :)  My hardest thing to find will be the cream for my coffee.  That is one vice I might just have to learn to live with.  

Enjoy your day!

~K

Turkey Day leftovers

Thanksgiving has come and gone but the food lingers on. We had two turkey dinners.  We spent Thanksgiving Day with family, but knowing how much my hubby loves leftover sandwiches I bought a turkey breast of our own. So yesterday I started to make the turkey breast which turned into an all out turkey dinner. Lol I just kept going. Homemade bread turned into stuffing, homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole & sweet potatoes (both leftover from Thanksgiving), spinach dip with homemade Hawaiian bread, homemade cranberry relish and pistachio fruit salad. 

I know that's a lot of work for dinner for 3 people, but we have dinner for the rest of the week. Lol. Truth be told, I love to cook and I love to make my own bread. Many years ago I had a bread machine, but it absolutely hated the whole it left in the bread. One day I decided to try it from scratch....and I love it! 

What do you like to make with your leftovers?  Our turkey will primarily be sandwiches, but when hubby is tired of that I will make some turkey pot pie or turkey and dumplings. I will use mashed potatoes with some ground turkey to make shephard's pie. Then we usually pick up a steak from Costco and eat that with the leftover side dishes. 

On a side note I am very thankful for my husband. As I sit here and type this up he is hard at work cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes. As he put it, "he's being spontaneous". Gotta love those character quizzes on Facebook. Lol

Today the plan is to go cut down our Christmas tree.