Hot vs. Hotter

Lately, Lee and I have been obsessed with Sons of Anarchy. We discovered it over the holidays on Netflix (all but this most recent season) and we are one episode away from being through season 4.

It is a great show, has hard to watch moments, but very entertaining. Kind of like Sopranos meets Hells Angels.

A few times while watching it, though, I realize that they are aiming at my age group to think the main young guy, Jax Teller, is hot.

Yeah I don't think so. I mean he isn't bad looking but his eyes are kind of close together...

Also, he looks eerily similar to my cousin, Bryant - and that means I just cannot sit here and look at him that way.

If you want to find a hot bad boy - look no further than Mr. Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)

Even if he does use the word "Bitch" as a noun, verb, and adjective.

Do you have a bad boy crush?

This Week's Menu

Every weekend, I sit down and dig through Pinterest plan my menu for the upcoming week. I try my hardest to bring in a new recipe to keep things interesting. Sure, there are weeks we go with the standard spaghetti / tacos / stir fry rotation, especially if things look busy that week.

This week I have 2 new recipe's I am giving a whirl and I am pretty excited about them.

Sunday: Sausage and Polenta Pies (New recipe)

Via Better Homes and Gardens

The only way I am going to vary on this is to make one large casserole rather than a few small ones. Why? Because I don't have 10" ramekins. Sunday night is still Donald and Aunt Kelly night so I am always looking for something that will feed us all.

Monday: Pork Loin Stir Fry
I happen to have these pork loin chops in the freezer that I portioned when we bought them - so I can just thaw what we need.
I usually just dig around for veggies in the fridge - and land on onion, bell pepper, and carrots. This week I grabbed a little bag of snow peas at the market to add some variety.
For the sauce I whisk up rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce or sirachi, and honey. If you have any ginger you can throw that in as well.
Here is a really old post about throwing that together Here.

Tuesday: Spicy Bean and Rice Burritos (New Recipe)

Source: tastykitchen.com via Breann on Pinterest

Usually Lee is all "Where is the meat?" This time, though, he agreed to try it.

Wednesday: Stuffed Shells

Source: inspiredtaste.net via Breann on Pinterest

I made these a few weeks or so ago and everyone really really enjoyed them. I use low fat ricotta and lean or low fat pork sausage to give it a healthier edge. Serve with a salad and you have a winner.


Thursday: I have a cooking class at Sur La Table so Lee is either having leftovers (if there are any) or a good ole ham sandwich.

Friday: Out!

How about you? Do you menu plan or just wing it?

Current Favorite

My hair. *Sigh* It's flat, fine, boring.

When looking for a good shampoo, I am usually on the hunt for something volumizing - but I also need conditioning since I highlight my hair.

Right now I am really enjoying this shampoo and conditioner:

It smells great, it's light and doesn't weigh my hair down, and it smooths the frizzies.

Living in Houston, where it is humid 364 days of the year, smoothing frizzies is kind of a big deal.

Anywhoo, just putting that out there for you.

Also, what's better than the your hair on the first day of new shampoo? Pretty much nothing.

Other than chocolate.

Or wine.

Mind-Full Monday

As Monday morning goes along in it's way, I have many things on my mind.

 I started a class at church based on this book. It even has a little workbook and we sit in groups and discuss questions. I loved it and even made myself speak up. I am not sure how red my face was but at least I participated, and so did Lee.

This is still part of my exploration of faith and need to be a part of a community and support system. So far I am very happy to be back.

 That's my whiteboard (hastily installed with push pins for now) at work. Since Christi left and I inherited some of her projects and accounts, my work load has soared. It's like everyone finally woke up from the Holiday slumber and it's GO GO GO. The three sections are phases of projects: SP (Space Planning) PP (Prelim Pricing) and CD/CA (Construction documents/Construction Administration).  I have a 3-floor project entering CA right now - so here we go 2013!!

My two-year old surely shows signs of those stubborn terrible two's - but he also can be tremendously sweet. We had a really nice weekend.

I hope you all have a great Monday and that your mind is full of great weekend memories.

Power Color

I see everyone out there choosing a power word for their year - and I have yet to really think of one for myself. However I do find that I have chosen my power COLOR.

Behold - Pantone's 2013 Color of the year: Emerald.

I have those pants, a sweater or 2, a few necklaces... I love this color.

What about you? Do you have a color that puts a pep in your step?

I'll keep looking for that word of the year... other than the EFF word because that is certainly a large part of my vocab these days. *shame*

Stuffed Peppers

I am always looking for a quick meal that satisfies everyone, and bonus points if I get to use the crock pot! What's better on Sunday than starting dinner at noon and knowing you don't have to do anything else until the kiddo is in bed?

Sleeping in, maybe?

Anyhow, I was cruising Pinterest and saw this pin:

Found HERE

I love stuffed peppers but rarely do them since they can be pretty time consuming between prepping the peppers and making the stuffing.
My favorite part about this recipe?

You don't have to cook the meat first.

So while Logan was eating his lunch, I followed the recipe and had dinner in the crock pot in about 15 minutes.

On the side I served some black beans which I added cilantro, lime, and a little chili pepper to.

This dinner was an absolute hit and next time I will make sure I save one for Logan!

I also think I may add a can of Rotel to the mixture to give it a little more zip. Otherwise I put a little Chipotle Tabasco on mine and that did the trick.

Have a great day everyone!

Actions AND Words..

Lately we have noticed that Logan is not only repeating our words, but our actions as well.

For instance - as we constantly tell our overly-needy dog Teddy to "Go Away!" while he just jumps on us and begs for things. Well yesterday Logan told Lee to go away! That wasn't nice at all and we have to now help Logan understand that it's not a nice thing to say.

Logan also ran up to one of the dogs saying "NO NO NO!" and being rough.

So while we have tried to watch our language around him, it looks like watching our demeanor is something else we need to do.

Little sponges these kids are!

Looking Forward

First of all, Happy New Year folks!

Over the last several months, maybe even year, I have brought up the subject with Lee about Church. We don't go hardly ever and just got to where it wasn't even a thought on Sunday morning.

I have this....feeling... that I need something else in my life. That I need positive reinforcement. Someone to tell me that no matter how terrible things seem - it will wall be ok.

Ever since the Sandy Hook tragedy, I have been mopey and distant. The shootings really shook me to my core and once again left me looking for somewhere to turn.

About a week after the shootings, after dinner while we were watching TV, Lee turned to me and said "I want us to start going to Sunday School and taking Logan to the church daycare."

Me - what? *Shocked*

Lee - I think it is something you need. You have been very sad lately and I think you need the community at church and Logan needs to be around kind people like our friends and their kids.

So I contacted Tiffanie and asked her if we could crash their class. She was pretty excited since this is something I honestly talked with her privately about a few months ago over wine and pizza at her house. I feel that she has a strong faith but she is also isn't one of those people who smacks you in the face with it. I can learn from her while still drinking a glass of wine and watching our boys play.

Lee and I were both brought up in the Methodist Church, in youth groups and choirs, and we want the same for Logan.

I hope to feel a little sense of relief and comfort after a few weeks of going back and being a part of the community. I already know several people in the class.

I don't know that we will always go on to the service, because with Logan that's a bit of a time issue (he eats around 11:30am) - but hopefully starting out at Sunday School will get us back into the mix.

I'm looking forward to the year ahead with a sense of faith and comfort and happiness as we watch Logan grow and learn.