Lunchtime - Spinach chicken salad again. This time there is gorgonzola cheese m

Lunchtime - Spinach chicken salad again. This time there is gorgonzola cheese, mushrooms, radishes, and tomatoes. I also have light vidalia dressing. . . Delicious. Hope my patients don't mind.

Early morning yoga

Good Morning everyone! It was definitely an early one for me. Wally had to leave for work early today so we decided to get up at 4 to do our workout together. Todays workout was Yoga X - 90 minutes - hence the early wake up.

At least I got to enjoy this delicious breakfast afterwards. On the right is the recovery drink.

Oatmeal for breakfast is one of my favorites and keeps me pretty full when I add some peanut butter. I also like using frozen berries when it is out of season. YUM!

I am getting very excited for this weekend. It is a pretty busy one. Saturday I am headed to upstate NY for a bridal shower and bachelorette party. Sunday when I get home my sister and brother in law should be here  and I get to see Parker. He is about 5 months now and getting bigger by the minute.

until later...

Spinach Chicken Salad with Crumbled Goat Cheese

So I am obviously liking goat cheese lately. I have been craving a good chicken ceasar salad. Well, instead of ceasar I used spinach. I also filled the salad with lots of goodies; radishes, red pepper, and mushrooms.

P90X workout -

Today's workout was completed at 4:30 this morning because Wally was supposed to go out of town and he wanted to still be on track. Today was SHOULDERS and ARMS, and AB RIPPER X.

Tomorrow's workout is YOGA X. It will probably be another early morning to get the workout done.

I am really craving some sweets...lets see what I can dream up to satisify the craving without actually eatting sweets.

I am thinking that I am going to bake the pups some treats. There is lots of information out there for all natural dog treats.

Until next time...

Mushroom, onion, and goat cheese quesadilla

Dinner tonight was a quick but  delicious one.

First I took a small onion and 6-8 sliced mushrooms sauteed in a little oil and balsamic vinegar.

Then filled the quesadilla with shredded cheddar cheese, mushroom, onions, and some crumbled  goat cheese with a dash of Franks Red Hot.

The goat cheese was a nice last minute addition which added a tangy twist.

After dinner we had day 2 of p90X - Plyometrics  - what a work out! Lots of jumping, twisting, lunging, and squats. Shoulders and Arms, and Ab Ripper X tomorrow. Can't wait.

Until then...

Today's lunch consists of leftover pasta with chicken chobani yogurt an apple

Today's lunch consists of leftover pasta with chicken, chobani yogurt, an apple, and water. It is stressed with any exercise program to keep hydrated. I find it hard to always drink enough because I am not always at a desk. It's all about making time for it just like anything else in life.

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p90x and pasta

Sunday was ANOTHER home show. I don't think that  I want to go to another one until we are closer to actually building our home. After we got home both of the dogs got a haircut! They look so much better without all of the shag (no pictures tho, hopefully later today).

When they we out playing I made dinner.

Pasta with chicken, zucchini, and a cream sauce

I got the receipe from Philly cream cheese and had a coupon for the cream cheese!!

Receipe:
2 c. pasta - we like penne
10 oz container Philly Cheese Spread - Italian herb flavor
1 small zuchinni chopped
1/2 c. chopped tomato
1 lb chicken breast cubed; bite sized pieces

Boil water and cook pasta according to directions.

Cook chicken and zucchini 6-7 minutes until chicken is cooked.

Add tomatoes and cream cheese sauce. I added another 1/2 c of tomatoes for more color and had more zuchinni on the side.

It was a pretty delicious and easy meal.

After dinner was our first night of p90X. We are both pretty excited about getting started with this. The first work out was chest and back. It has you do a TON of push ups. It is definitely pretty extreme. Since we just went grocery shopping I think we will start the Nutrition portion next week ;) We tend to eat fairly healthy anyway but it will cut most carbs out at least for th first month.

Until later...

Weekday dinner catch up

Good morning. Wally came home last night and it is so good to have him home again. The dogs and I sure did miss him.

First off - catch up from this weeks dinners.

Tuesday - left over buffalo chicken burger from Ruby Tuesdays with cheese fries and pasta salad!

 Wednesday: Baked sweet potato (microwave for about 5 minutes, turn over half way) with salsa and pepper jack cheese.

 Friday - Since we are in the Lenten season - no meat! - I made my self a yummy grilled cheese sandwich with HeluvaGood Sharp Cheddar.

Saturday - I made my self another baked sweet potato in the microwave - this time I topped it with some left over chili and a few slices of the sharp cheddar cheese. (yummmm)

 For breakfast on saturday we have had these Pillsbury cinnamon rolls sitting in the fridge. It was about time they were eatten. I decided to make them in the toaster oven for two reasons; it takes less time to heat up and less electricity to cook = save $$

Friday was just one of those really "not so good" day for me. So it inspired me to get started on the  P90x. I am not officially starting it until TODAY but my friend has been doing parts of it. She said "do the ab ripper" you will feel much better. Oh man was that a tough 15-20 minutes. I can't wait to get started.

Saturday was a nice calm day. I got to hang out with my friend Lindsey and her husband, Ryan. We headed to Boston for an RPI alum event to watch the RPI hockey team :(

RPI v. Univ. North Dakota 0-6

Poor guys. We left after the 2nd period, they were already down 0 - 5 at that point. Since we were in boston we decided to go shoe shopping. Lindsey and I both had things we were looking for so off we went. We didn't find anything. Oh well. another day...

The end of the weekend is here. I think today will be the perfect day to start p90x; no excuses on monday. We will also be off to another home show in concord.

slow day

Today is just one of those really slow days at work. I have lots of extra time for thinking and planning. One of the things I have been feeling guilty about lately is not giving anything up for Lent. I was raised catholic and almost always gave something up. This year was different; I couldn't think of anything that I would want to give up and didn't want to give up sweets like last year. After talking with my mom, she asked if I gave anything up and I had to admit that I didn't. I guess the guilt has gotten to me and have decided to give up sweets. After all this isn't something that should be easy and not having sweets won't kill me. I am also going to try and exercise more.

On another note; my TO DO list this year:
- Buy land to build our house on which gives me the opportunity to start planning the inside of the house. This I am pretty excited about since the wedding planning is over it will give me something to keep busy.
- Run my 3rd Marathon - in Bank of America Marathon in Chicago. My plan is to run this marathon for charity. The American Liver Foundationg to be specific. It is a good cause that I think needs more pubilicity. It is a disease that affects many people and just those with a history of drug and/or alcohol abuse in their past. - Every $ helps - please donate at my page http://go.liverfoundation.org/goto/katiearcher . katiearcher
- Be a better blogger - my real goal here is to find my "blogging voice" and to be more consistent with blogging. I am also hoping this encourages me to be more creative with receipes and desserts. I also hope to get a better camera for better looking pictures. I have never really been a great photographer, but I am working on the part too. My little sister is the artist of the family and gives me points. Maybe I will even take a class!!
- Grow my own veggies or join a CSA - a few years ago I tried to plant a small garden. It did not go very well. The garden didn't get enough sun and that was pretty much the biggest mistake. Growing up my mom always had a garden and we always helped to make sure it was watered and weeded. I also like the idea of having fresh veggies and cuts on some of the costs. That would also be the benefit of the CSA. I was researching one of the CSA's around here and people wrote that they loved that they tried new veggies they normally would not have gone for and loving it. The downfall to the CSA is the cost is upfront :(
- Be a better friend - after college it seemed as though our whole group of friends stayed in the general area for a short time. Over time many of us are now married and a few have new babies. It is sad to say that we don't keep in touch as often as we did. We were recently all together for my wedding, and will be together again soon for Lauren's wedding. It reminds me how much I miss this group of girls and want to make sure we stay in contact. My goals this year is to make more effort to writing emails, sending letters/cards, and making calls. These girls were my best friends for 5+ years in college and want it to stay that way.

Throw together dinner

My meals when Wally is gone are never as good as when I am cooking for 2. We had a few chicken sausages sitting the the fridge needing to be cooked, so I decided to throw something together.

 I used rice-a- roni - chicken flavor, a red pepper chopped up, and sliced 2 pieces of sausage. I prepared the rice as the box recommends and added the red pepper and sausage when the rice was simmering covered.

 I added some Franks Hot Sauce and Lizano sauce that we brought back from Costa Rica with us. The sauces gave it that added touch to not taste like a boxed dinner.

For dessert, Mint Oreo ice cream and 2 oreos. I was craving more chocolate!!

More unpacking to do; while I was waiting for the rice to simmer I had 15 minutes to clean/unpack. I was able to get 3 more boxes unpacked/put away. I know that this may not seem like a lot. But little by little it is getting all into place. I have found that since I started working it is hard to find time to clean, unpack, make dinner, workout, feed and walk the dogs,... (life)

Unconditional Love

Wally had left for Texas for flight training on a Bell 206. Wally being going means a few things;

- I get to have ALL of the covers in bed

- I get to watch girly movies and as much grey's anatomy as I want

- more unpacking without distraction

- get some cleaning down without feeling like I am not spending time with him

What are things that you can do while your spouse/significant other are away?

playing in the snow this morning...

Movie tonight: "Letters to Juliet"

Best Sister in the World

We will begin with last night. I think I should have won "Best Sister in the World" award.

My little sister,

Ashley, came up to Northern NH to go skiing for spring break. As some people know we got some spring snow. She was driving back from getting groceries and she slid off the road into the trees. She was pretty shoken up and needed someone to pick her up. She called her friend in Plymouth (way closer than I live) but no answer. She called me and naturally I said I would come get her. I packed the pups in the car and off we went. I got there about 2 hours later and met the tow truck driver at the gas station. I then asked her if she wanted to come home with me or just back to the condo. "The condo" she says, she has stuff to get done for school anyway. I then drove further into the snow to bring her back to the condo and drop her off. At that time it was about 8:30 and I still haven't eatten dinner, thankfully she made me a PB & J and back on the road I went to come home. What a long trip... 4 hours in the car, for the most part the dogs behaved pretty well. There was only a few times Calving tried to climb on my lap and lie there. The good thing is that everyone was safe and cars are only things. It actually didn't look too bad, it should be fixable.

The dogs love playing in the snow.

Crazy Spring Weather and Lunch

Spring is definitely the time for crazy weather. I don't know if you can tell because it is a cell phone picture but it is snowing out there! Today for lunch is left over taco soup from Mom, chobani yogurt, and an apple.

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Maple syrup house, puzzles, movies

I wanted to start today's blog with a picture of this cookbook. This is one of the reasons that I started this blog. Wally and I were getting into a rut with what to make for dinner and we have all of these wonderful cookbooks but hardly use them. So we decided to do a "Julie & Julia" thing and start cooking through the cookbook. I don't have a timeline for it to be done in. This is just for fun and start mixing things up.

I couldn't sleep last night and decided that I wanted to make french toast for breakfast. We have a big day, we were going to look at some land around the area to build our house on. I figured it would be a long day and wanted a good breakfast. French Toast would definitely do the trick.

I used a shallow baking dish making it easier to drunk the bread in.

4 eggs

1 c. of milk

2 tbsp of sugar

2 tsp of vanilla

a dash or two of cinnamon

cook 2-3 minutes per side of toast

and Voila! one huge stack of french toast for 2 people.

I couldn't resist taking pictures of the dogs. The ride so well in the car and are pretty darn cute!

Between 2 of the properties we were looking at we had some time to explore the area. We got a little off track. But good thing we did, we found this Maple Sugar House. This weekend is the Open house for most if not all of the maple sugar houses in New Hampshire. We got a little tour and the lady explained how the process works.

Wally is standing in front of the machine that the sap gets pushed through and the syrup comes out at the end.

The end product! Warm and delicious!

Side note:

When Wally and I were dating and talking about marriage he said he didn't want to have cable for the first year of marriage. I agreed hestiantly. Now we have been married for 6 weeks and I still miss my TV, morning  news, greys anatomy...

So to keep busy we have been watching movies, working out, playing with the dogs (which we do anyway), and doing puzzles. I have always loved doing puzzles. The harder the better!

What are things that you do as a couple that doesn't involve cable?

Until next time...

St. Pattys Day!!

Happy St. Patty's Day all!!

A little late, I know. I am Irish so I do my best to celebrate. I wore my green. Which I was surprised that more people didn't. But more importantly I made Crockpot Corned Beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots. It was one full crock pot. With dinner Wally and I also enjoyed Pete's Wicked Strawberry Blonde.

He likes making silly faces!

Everything was very yummy, Wally even tried some cabbage!

and for dessert. MINT OREO ice cream. It was our first batch using the Kitchenaid Ice cream maker attachment. It didnt work perfectly but it was sure yummy. I was looking up why it didn't freeze the way it should. There are a few options; 1) the bowl was not frozen enough, I might have to turn down the freezer more and move it more to the back. Our freezer is FULL and didn't want to move everything. 2) Cool the batter for an hour before placing it in the ice cream maker. This might help as well. I took the partially frozen ice cream, placed it in an airtight container and put in the freezer overnight to harden.

Paula Deen's Goulash

Yesterday was a crazy busy day at work. I wanted an easy dinner to make and Goulash was already on the menu... thank goodness!!

I used a recipe from Paula Deen called Bobby's Goulash. The only substitutions I made was using 2 lbs of venison (that's what we have) unstead of the 2 lbs of beef and 1 lb of turkey. I felt that 3 lbs of meat for this meal was a little over kill. The 2 lbs was plenty. I followed the directions almost to a "T" and it was perfect. I almost threw more pasta in there. It didn't seem like 2 cups would be enough but it was. On the side, I make quick garlic bread. I used potato rolls, smoothered them in butter, parm cheese, and garlic powder; broiled them until lightly browned on top nad they were done.

The only down fall to the meal was that it took just over an hour to make :( But it was worth it and we have TONS of leftovers.

On a side note, to make the goulash I used a cast aluminon dutch oven. It is used just like cast iron but much LIGHTER. I was pleasantly surprised. Mine is from ALL-CLAD and was the added gift when purchasing our stainless pots and pans from Williams Sonoma.

St. Pattys Day Dinner - Corned Beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots in the crockpot and Mint Oreo ice cream. Can't wait! 

Weekend Update

SO this weekend was another jam packed on. Saturday we packed up the cars and headed to Augusta, ME for the Log Home show. This home show wasn't quite as big as the last one we had attended however this one was geared specifically towards log homes. I must say, that I am losing my faith in some people. I know that we look young. But, the vendors/sales people for the Log Homes didn't really want to talk with us. We would flip through some of their books and ask questions when we wanted to. Some would come over and talk. But for the most part we were passed over for the middle-aged couples.

We did find one vendor for log home kits that we really liked and we are going to start pricing homes with 3 different companies and see what we can get for the best price. Hopefully this weekend we will be able to start looking at some land!!

After a few hours at the home show my stomach was rumbling. We found a Margarita's near by and ate there and of course had a few margarita's (on the rocks - no salt!).

Sunday was another busy day. We went and had breakfast at a small diner in town. It was quite amusing to hear the people at the table behind us were speaking in French. There is a heavy French Canadian influence in Maine, especially the more north you get. After breakfast we were headed off to L.L. Bean. I always enjoy that store. It reminds of when we were kids. Wally and I both got new slippers, Wally got some fly fishing stuff, some shirts, and the dogs got a new backpack and blaze orange collar. Then we headed to Patagonia, I was in serious need of a puffy coat, and found a dress!

Next, we headed south to Portland. The plan was to meet up with friends for lunch, but that didn't happen. We did make it to the mall where We bought an ice cream maker attachment  for the kitchenaid. I can't wait to use it tonight, the bowl has been chilling. Mint Cookies n' Cream tonight. After all of our shopping was complete we headed to Ruby Tuesday's for Lunch, Turkey mini's and salad bar! Yum.

Our last stop on our way home was a puzzle shop. The only sell puzzles, it was so much fun. We bought one and I can't wait to get it started.

Last night, I met up with some friends for a Thirty One purse party at Uno's. We had Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat, which I haven't had in a long time, but was yummy.

My puppies!! Calvin (on left) is 11 months old. Forest (on right) is 3 years old.

They are both Standard Schnauzers, full of energy and very smart.



Wally and the pups.