Still Alive

Wow, so I've been MIA for almost a week now. I always feel bad writing posts without pictures, and couldn't find my camera cord. I didn't want to write about what was going on in our lives without posting the pictures I had been taking, so I just didn't write!

So this blog post will be dedicated to what we've done in the past week or so while the camera cord was missing! I finally found it tonight, so there'll be LOTS of pictures!

In the past week-and-a-half I:

-Started hanging some white plates I've been collecting on the wall in our dining area. I decided they looked like they were in two diagonal lines after this picture and have since moved them around a little, and added a few more to it.

-Found 3 16x20 black frames on 90% off clearance at Hobby Lobby and finally framed some of my paintings from Art & Libations last year. I think they were less than $10 total!

-Made some white chili (again, I might be mildly addicted to this stuff, it is so good!), and tried to write the recipe down for y'all, but I used all organic beans instead of the kind I usually use, (because I'm too much of a Sprouts snob to go to Kroger just to get beans), and I had to change some stuff up to get it to taste right. I'll try to make it again for y'all and really write out a recipe.
-Made a fruit pizza for breakfast for our Sunday School class. I'll post the recipe later this week.
-Had a freak snowstorm on the first day of spring drop 8" of snow on Dallas!
-Bought a new hedge trimmer to take care of our out-of-control front bushes.
-Made some super-yummy grilled chicken and vegetables when our weather turned back to normal Texas mid-seventies two days after the snow.
-Ordered a new couch and chair-and-a-half that unfortunately won't be in for 12 weeks! Don't they know how impatient I am?
This is the chair-and-a-half, but in these fabrics. The big one is the main fabric for the couch and chair and the print is for the pillows. This is why it's going to take 12 weeks, if we would have just liked the fabric of the samples in store it wouldn't take nearly as long. Of course, we have to make everything much more complicated!!
-Found my Matron of Honor dress for my cousin's wedding (10/10/10!). Here's me in the sample in store, (that's 2 sizes too small!), and in black instead of navy like the dress will be for the wedding.
-Went to eat burgers at Fuddrucker's with my aunt, my cousin Lily and my cousin Danny. Danny joined the military and ships out tomorrow, and he wanted to go to Six Flags with his niece before he left. Somehow managed to not get a picture of him. Good going, Jennifer!

-Went to my Aunt Nancy's and played with all her Little People toys that were my cousins when they were little. She said they were in the cabinet for the grandchildren not the kids/nieces/nephews, but it was a lot of fun to pull them out and remember playing with them when we were little.

-Got a much needed manicure to match my Easter dress.

-Got my hair cut courtesy of the awesome Jacquelyn!

I think that pretty much brings you up to speed! Sorry for the picture overload, but I think pictures are better than reading me rambling along trying to explain everything without pictures!

I also finally started taking some pictures of our house since apparently I haven't really taken any since we moved here 7 months ago! I'll start posting those later this week.

Jennifer

Watch Out for the Orange Ones

For today's edition of 'how crazy is Jennifer?" I am submitting the following story...

I keep reading on blogs about Home Goods store. I've never been to one, but people kept blogging about the great finds they found at Home Goods for cheap. I'm all about inexpensive decorating. I knew there had to be one somewhere in the Metroplex I could check out.

This afternoon I checked their website and located one about 15 minutes from my house. I looked at the map but didn't write down the directions because they didn't seem too hard. I didn't bother using my GPS because it needs to be updated and the shopping center the Home Goods was in is really new, and I knew the GPS would just be confused.

Well, of course, I missed a turn somewhere and wound up in the crazy mess of construction where 121 meets 75 in McKinney, (yes, I do realize this means absolutely nothing to most of you, but the few who do understand will really sympathize with me, this area is a nightmare).

So, I'm navigating through the mass of traffic mess and come to a particularly narrow one lane stretch of road. On one side is a concrete wall and on the other side a long row of orange traffic barrels. When all the sudden..

I HIT ONE OF THE BARRELS!

I am not kidding!! In my defense it was out of line with the others, (kind of like someone else had already hit it), and it was either hit it or the concrete dividing wall, but still!

I just started laughing so hard! I mean, honestly, who else hits a huge orange traffic barrel?! We're not talking any little cone, one of the BARRELS!

After about 5 minutes of laughing hysterically by myself in my car, it suddenly dawned on me that hitting a big, huge, barrel while going 60 mph, may not have been the best thing for my car. I envisioned a huge dent along the passenger side of my shiny black car.

This picture was after my wonderful husband washed it two weekends ago.
You know the week before the freak 6" of March snow in DFW that completely ruined the nice wax job.

I eventually made it safely to Home Goods after my 10 minute detour and the barrel incident. I checked out the car and miraculously there's no damage to my car. I think I just clipped the barrel with the mirror, but it sure didn't sound like that at the time.

Still I'm pretty sure no ones going to nominate me for North Texas best drivers anytime soon.

Jennifer

Still no camera cord. :-/

Pants on Fire

**Still no camera cord, so no current pictures!**

Do you remember when I asked for your heartfelt opinions on a new bed for our master bedroom?

Then a few days later I posted saying I'd decided to take my beloved readers' advice and get a king-size mattress?

LIAR, LIAR!

And how since we were getting a new size mattress we would have to get a new bed. And we all came to the conclusion that the metal bed would work nicely?

PANTS ON FIRE!

This past weekend we bought a new mattress. It was NOT a king-size mattress. And we did NOT buy a new bed frame!

NOSE IS LONG AS A TELEPHONE WIRE!

After very, very careful consideration we decided we just loved our current bed too much. We're just not ready to get rid of it! We tried to think of what we would do with the bed if we got a king-size and every option just kind of broke our hearts.

We love our bed.

Sometimes I get so caught up in reading design blogs and looking at tons of magazines that I start to want something different. Isn't there some anecdote about proverbial grass that would apply nicely here? Or, even a more divine inspiration, perhaps a commandment about coveting??

Anyway, when we went to Nashville a few weekends ago, the Embassy Suites we stayed in had a king-size bed and we didn't love it as much as we thought we would. Turns out we've gotten kind of used to our queen bed and Miss Kitty squished in between us.

So, we reached a compromise.

We would, of course, get a new mattress, (that was a given) in queen-size and keep our current bed frame. Then we would use the difference in price of the queen and king mattress to get all new bedding.

Still not sure what that's going to be, (I told you I was indecisive). But, I'm sure I'll know the right bedding when I find it!

Oh, yeah, and another positive of keeping our queen frame--it frees up some more money for my living room furniture fund.

Silver linings, girls. Silver linings.

Oh, and here are some OLD pictures of our bed. These were both taken in our old apartment. The first one is from when we first moved in to the apartment and didn't have anything on the walls or anything. The second one was taken right before we moved and had already taken stuff off the walls, taken the curtains down and only had a blanket on the bed because the big comforter (that matches the pillow shams) had been packed up.

I can't even believe I'm putting these on here, they're pretty awful. But, there pretty clear of the bed itself, so maybe you'll understand why we decided to keep it.




I seriously need to take some pictures of our current house! We've lived here six months and I've got nothing!

Jennifer

No Photos

I can't find my camera cord! The one that helps me upload all the pretty pictures on my camera just waiting to be shared with you all. :(

I'm entirely certain that 99.9% of what I write on here is boring nonsense, and the pictures help to break all that up a little.

Therefore, until I can find the cord I'll probably be a little "quiet."

Hopefully I'll find it soon. We all know how crazy/OCD/obsessive I get when I can't find things...

If you're new you can catch up here and here.

Jennifer

Oompa-Loompa Face

I'm a pretty brand loyal person. When I find something that really works well, I stick with it. To that regard I've been using Clinique makeup for years now.

It started with something small and now almost every component of my makeup drawer is Clinique brand. I've tried a couple other brands throughout the years, and always go back to my tried and true Clinique. Throughout this entire time I've worn the same base: Clinique clarifying base in Fresh Cream, (yes, I'm pasty).

Well, last week I ran out so I just waltzed up to the Clinique counter at Dillard's and asked for another tube. Imagine my surprise when the saleslady responded, "They discontinued that."

Excuse me, come again?!

She went on to explain that Clinique had a new oil free base that they were going to be introducing in early April that was going to be better than the clarifying makeup. I have my doubts, this stuff is great, but why didn't they wait to get rid of the old stuff until they had an adequate replacement on the shelf?! Don't they know not to mess with women and their makeup?

She dug around under the counter and found a sample tube of the Fresh Cream and gave me two little pots of the stuff that are each supposed to last 10 days, to hold me through until the new base comes out in April.

I left there thoroughly annoyed and not even getting the powder I also planned on getting. I thought I'd out smart stupid ol' Dillard's and head to Sephora to see if they had any of the good stuff.

They didn't.

So, it looks like I'm going to have to solely rely on these two pots of base to last me until the beginning of April like the chick at Dillard's said. Free makeup-not too shabby? However, I'm not sold on the fact that these sample pots actually contain Fresh Cream. When applied to my face they look a tad Oompa-Loompa-ish. I look like I'm turning orange face first. It's gotta be either the makeup or the 2 dozen Cuties fresh mandarin oranges I've eaten this week, (seriously girls, have you tried these things? They're delish!).

So, if you happen to see me looking a little like George Hamilton for the next two weeks, please don't judge me. I maintain that I'm the victim in this ordeal.

Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying your weekend! Why is it so freaking cold in DFW?? I saw some snowflakes earlier and the wind is out of control. Is this winter ever going to end?

Jennifer

Are You Kidding Me?

Also known as: the joys of living in rental property.

I've mentioned before that we're not exactly in the place, (literally and figuratively), in our lives that I thought we would be right now. Our plan was to have bought a house by now and maybe even have a kid. God's plan was a little different.

Thus, we are currently renting our house because it didn't make sense to buy a house when Jonathan's planning on starting grad school next year, and it just didn't seem to be smart to buy before he finishes with that in case we have to move before grad school or after it's over and he got his first post-grad school job.

We really like the house we live in. It has a couple of things that I would change if we owned the house, (oak stained cabinets and fireplace mantel, I'm talking to you!), but for the most part we really like it. The neighborhood is safe, and we're pretty much surrounded by retired couples so it's really quiet for husband to sleep all day. It's very conveniently located and Jonathan has a short commute to work by DFW standards. We have plenty of room and lots of windows.

My main complaint about the house has nothing to do with the house itself-it's the previous renters.

My beef with them began when after spending a Texas August day packing up a moving truck, cleaning our apartment and driving three hours to our new home, we found that they were still here! You know, just getting the last of their stuff out of the house! Nothing like waiting until the last minute! Thankfully they were fully vacated within about 20 minutes, and I thought that would be the last of them.

Well, in addition to the house not being my definition of clean after they'd gone, we received constant reminders of their former presence in the house everyday when we got the mail. We thought maybe the post office hadn't started forwarding their mail yet, but after about 4 months of getting a box full of their mail everyday, we kind of ditched that theory.

This week I've been in full Spring Cleaning mode and finally getting around to getting the black streaks off the ceiling in the guest bedrooms, (how in the world they got there I have no idea!). So the previous tenants have been grating on my nerves more than normal the past few days, as I scrubbed those black streaks off.

But after today they previous tenants are officially on my list.

See in addition to not keeping the inside of the house in tip-top shape, they did relatively no yard work. They had lawn guys come out and mow every week, but the bushes are really overgrown and the yard and flower beds are full of weeds. We talked to Scott's last week and spraying weed killer on the yard, to get rid off all the clover and weeds so our yard would be pretty and green.

Flower bed with more weeds than anything else

Bright and early this morning they came out and sprayed the yards and left us some specific instructions:
1. Water the yard in 24 hours
2. DO NOT mow the yard for at least 48 hours, and when you do mow, use a mower with a bag so as to not spread the weed seeds all over the lawn.

Pretty simple, right?

Our overgrown shrubs and more weeds everywhere

Fastforward to this afternoon at about 4:00, when I was in the bathroom finally doing my hair, (give me a break, I didn't feel well today), when I heard lawn mowers that seemed really close. I couldn't see anything out our bedroom and bathroom windows because they look out on our side yard which is behind a locked fence.

Side yard. Full of weeds.

So I walked to the front of the house and looked out the windows at about 6 guys who had in about 3 minutes mowed the entire front yard (it's really tiny!). And were then blowing all the cut grass all over. NOT waiting 48 hours after the weed killer had been put on and NOT using a mower with a bag so as to not spread the weed seeds all over.

Are you kidding me?

I went outside and tried to talk to the crew to tell them that we had not signed up for any lawn care service, and that my husband took care of the lawn. Of course they didn't exactly understand English, so it was interesting. They brought their sheet of jobs out of the truck and there was our address, plain as day on the list. They gave me a number and I called their boss and talked to him, and it was determined that the previous owners hadn't canceled the lawn service after the moved out.

Are you kidding me?

The boss guy on the phone explained the situation to the crew and they packed up and left. I guess the positive side is our yard is all nice and mowed now and we didn't have to do it.

On the other side, I'm not sure if the weed killer that we paid to have put down is going to be effective or not. I guess we'll have to wait and see! Scott's is supposed to come out in a couple of weeks to do a follow-up treatment, so I guess they can re-evaluate it then.

Front "yard" a few weeks ago. After taking this I did fix the little edge that had fallen over.

The moral of this (incredibly long, and most likely very boring), story, is threefold.

When moving:
1. Always clean houses/townhouses/apartments before you move out.
2. Go to the post office or usps.com and fill out an address change form and the US post office will magically forward all your mail to your new address for the next six months.
3. Cancel your lawn service!

Stupid previous tenants! I understand we don't own this house, but we do live here, and therefore we would like it to look nice. Call us crazy!

Jennifer

Tips for Enjoying Cooking

We all know that I cook dinner most nights, and for the most part, I really enjoy it. I get comments from people all the time, (not so much on here as in real life), about how they wished they could enjoy cooking.

Now, I certainly don't wake up every morning (cough, afternoon, cough), thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner and counting down the minutes until that time comes. I know that we're all busy (most of you are certainly more busy than I am), and to many people cooking dinner is just another chore they have to do, just like laundry or vacuuming. BUT, I do think there are a few things that can help make being in the kitchen a little more enjoyable!

In completely random order:

1. First and foremost, it is SO much more fun to cook in a CLEAN kitchen.

Our old apartment's kitchen. How do I not have any pictures of our current kitchen??

Trust me, many, (many, many, many) times I've tried to cook in a kitchen that's not spic-and-span, and it's just a pain. No one ever really enjoys being in a messy place, and especially in a kitchen it's of the utmost importance to keep everything clean. Plus, when all your dishes, utensils, and pots and pans are clean and in their proper homes, it makes everything easier and quicker!

2. Involve others!

My mom and her brother, my uncle Jim cooking at my Grandma's house.

I am very lucky to have a husband who is willing to help me in the kitchen! I am ever so thankful for this, (and he is thankful when he eats the fruits of his labor). We have a long running joke that he is my sous chef. Most of the time he does tasks that either I don't want to do, (just being honest), or are easy, but time consuming. He's a pro at peeling carrots and potatoes, and grating cheese. Sometimes if I'm in a hurry or making something easy, he just sits at the bar and plays on facebook and talks to me, but it's still more fun than feeling like you're stuck in the kitchen slaving away at a hot stove by yourself.

*I'm also like in involving kids in the kitchen also. I know I really don't have any real room to say this because we don't have kids, but I used to help my mom when I was little and look how well I turned out, (hahaha). When my cousin's 4 year old daughter stayed with us for a week two years ago, she was a big help to me and we had a lot of fun. She still tells her momma that her "aunt Jennifer let's her cook!"

3. Cook on your level. If you always burn toast, don't try to make lobster thermidor. If you have trouble getting a cake to turn out right, it's probably not the best idea to attempt a souffle. Others may disagree with me on this, and while I agree it's important to challenge yourself, it may not be best to do so on an empty stomach. If you're hungry and your spouse, children, guests whomever are waiting for dinner, it's only going to frustrate you to ruin something because you didn't have all the skills to prepare it correctly. Yes, I am speaking from experience as a matter of fact.

4. Do your prep work ahead of time.

If you're busy and most nights you are rushing around get something on the table within an hour after getting off work, do yourself a favor and do your prep work ahead of time. Most Sundays I spend about an hour or so making a couple of dishes that can carry me through the first part of the week. You can chop onions, bell peppers, and carrots ahead of time and put them in tupperware or ziploc bags and store in the fridge until you're ready for them. If Whole Foods can do it, why can't we? ;-)

To that same regard, if you know you're going to eat several dishes that involve rice, (we often eat different stir-fries several times a week), you can make a big pot of rice and put it in the fridge on Sunday and just heat up what you need on the night you need it. Sometimes I'll make a soup or a casserole like chicken spaghetti on Sunday, and put it in the fridge to eat Monday and/or Tuesday. Same rules apply for salads or pasta salads, they will last a couple of days in the fridge. It may seem like a small step, but it really helps get your week off to a better start when you're not having to worry about dinner after a horrible Monday.

5. Cook what you love. Take a few minutes to think about what your all time favorite foods are. When you go out to eat what do you really like? Enchiladas? Beef and broccoli? Calzones? Caesar salad? Look up a few easy recipes (I use allrecipes.com and search for the highest rated recipes), and learn to make these things at home. You're not going to be excited about cooking and eating at home if you're always making tuna casserole or shake-and-bake chicken day after day, (unless you really love those things!).

If you're looking for a recipe for something and can't find it, let me know. I have tons of cookbooks, and a head full of otherwise useless knowledge, so I may be able to help you out. My email address is at the top right of the page, just shoot me a message!

6. Set the table and eat at it.

I think dinner just tastes better at the table. We eat at the table every night, and yes sometimes we still have the tv on, (we're certainly not perfect), but I'm a very firm believer in eating at the table. We don't always set the table in china and crystal, and most nights we still make our plates at the stove, but we eat at the table. Try it and see what you think!

If you're not sold on the idea of eating at the table head to Target and get some pretty placemats and cloth napkins, (we do always use cloth napkins, but that's a story for another day), and maybe some candle sticks, flowers or whatever, clear all the mail off the table, (I do it too), and set the table all pretty. A clean, pretty table, is a big motivator.

7. Buy fresh ingredients. They're prettier, they're better for you, and they taste better. What other reasons do you need?

9. If you get discouraged buy something fun to keep up your interest. Hence the half a pantry of kitchen gadgets I have. Face it, girls like pretty stuff, and for most people pots and pans don't count. Get a cute apron, (there are tons of adorable ones on etsy), or pretty printed dishtowels, or a new lemon zester, whatever floats your boat. Just something small to keep your interest up for a little while.

10. If all else fails, rent/buy/add to your Netflix queue "Julie and Julia."
I can't watch it without wanting to get in the kitchen and make chocolate creme pie, bruschetta, or beouf bourginon. :)

By the way, I did not mean to sound so 1950's housewife to y'all, but I was just trying to think about the things that really make me enjoy cooking and pass those on to you. If you think all of these sound like a bunch of nonsense, that's fine, but please let me know, what makes you enjoy cooking? Do you have any tips for me?

Jennifer

Cleaning Like the Jetsons

How many of you watched the Jetsons when you were little?

I've got to say, it was one of my favorite cartoons. I loved the flying cars, and the fact that the mom didn't have to fix her hair, and most of all, I loved their robot housemaid, Rosey.


Now, I grew up in a house full of boys who were obsessed with all things electronic, robots, Star Trek, etc, and while none of that ever interested me at all. But, a robot who could clean my house-that's something I can get behind.

Thankfully, in the decades since the Jetsons premiered, there are a number of devices that make our lives easier/better. Cell phones, home computers, car seat warmers, iPods, digital cameras, Keurig coffee pots, (I wrote about our's here)I could go on...

We even have automated Roomba vacuum cleaners that zoom around the floor bouncing off furniture and walls cleaning the floor. And, a few years ago Scrubbing Bubbles released an automated shower cleaner that at the push of a button sprays cleaner all over the shower supposedly eliminates the need to scrub the shower regularly.

I'm going to go ahead and admit that I'm pretty skeptical of this thing. How is it possible that the shower stays clean with no scrubbing? How can two little sprayers reach all the corners and crevices of the shower? Am I seriously never going to have to scrub my shower again?

Like I said, pretty skeptical. However, cleaning the shower is one of my absolute least favorite household chores. Take away my dishwasher and I'll survive, (I'm one of those that basically washes the dishes before they go in the dishwasher), and I almost like to vacuum the floor, but srubbing down the tile, (and grout! grr!), I HATE!

So despite my doubts, a few days ago on my weekly (cough), trip to Target I decided it may be worth it to spend the $14 bucks to purchase this thing. For only $14 bucks I think one of two things will occur. 1. It will be the best $14 I've ever spent in my life and I'll never have to scrub the shower again, (ahh, wishful thinking), and will therefore have an extra 30 minutes of time per week, (seriously doubtful of this), or 2. I'll at least get a week or so break from cleaning the shower until the time I am convinced that I was (of course) right and nothing beats a good scrubbing.

I'll keep you posted.

What about you? What's your least favorite household chore? What machines have you found that making cleaning so much easier? And, have you tried this Scrubbing Bubbles machine? If so, did it work or should I have asked you this question before I went out and bought the thing? What Jetson appliance are you anxiously awaiting?

I'm still holding out for the robot to fix my hair!

Jennifer

P.S. If you plan on purchasing one of the scrubbing bubbles automatic shower cleaners go here for a coupon for $5 off. I definitely just found this while looking for a picture of the thing. Oh, well.

Springy Saturday Projects

First of all, I'm loving the fact that there's no rain or temperatures below freezing in the forecast for the next 10 days. Could it really be true, has spring finally come to north Texas? It certainly feels like it today!

We took full advantage of the amazing weather and did some stuff around the house we've been trying to get done for months. Like FINALLY paint the dining room chairs, and the desk from the guest bedroom, and wash the car that's looked grey for the last few weeks.

Here's a picture of what the dining chairs looked like before, and what they'll all look like when I'm done.

There are four chairs in four different stages of being refinished because I'm too impatient to sand them all, then prime them all, then paint them all. I need a visual of the final product to motivate me to do the rest!

I really do love the black and I'm glad we decided to stick with the black instead of the grey that I was originally going to paint them.

Our table is a round pedastal table that seats four people and has a leaf that makes it an oval which will seat six people. We have a large family, but unfortunately only four chairs. I originally thought we should just get all new chairs, (I actually really like the table despite it's 1990's oak finish, it's going to be stained a dark color, not painted black). The table and chairs in our dining area the day after we moved in. I've been working on the dining area a lot the past two weeks and will post after pictures as soon as the table is done. :)

But, we decided to go ahead and refinish the chairs we have and get two of these chairs from Pottery Barn:

For everyday use we don't have the leaf in the table so two of the black wood chairs and the two pottery barn chairs will be at the table and the other two black chairs will be in front of the bookcases in the living room with an end table between them for extra seating in there.

Sorry for the crooked picture. Pretend both chairs are black and have a table between them.

So, that's the plan. At least for now! I am prone to changing my mind frequently, and of course if it looks weird when we get everything in place the plan can be amended.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!
Jennifer

Food For Thought

**Warning: If you're planning a nice dinner date with your husband at an Italian restaurant tonight, stop reading now and go merrily about your way.**

I remembered this morning that I posted nutritional information for the spaghetti squash "noodles" in my post last night, but didn't put any nutrition info up for the spaghetti sauce recipe I listed.



I used calorie count again to come up with an estimate of the nutritional info for the whole pot of sauce. I figured it makes somewhere between 6 and 8 servings, because we both ate it last night, Jonathan took some for "lunch" to work, and there's about half of the sauce leftover. So when I list the per serving info, I'm going to be using 1/6 of the nutritional info for the pot. (Does any of this make any sense at all?, I tend to ramble)

Alright, nutritional info for yesterday's Spaghetti Sauce recipe:

Entire Pot of Sauce:
1026.5 calories, 22.4 grams of fat

One Serving of Sauce:
171 calories, 3.7 grams of fat

Not too shabby, huh?

So, if you ate 1 cup of yesterday's spaghetti squash "noodles" with 1/6 of the pot of spaghetti sauce it would be 213 calories.

While I was looking this up, it made me wonder exactly how much better "slaving over the hot stove" cooking at home is than eating out, so I looked up spaghetti at America's most popular chain Italian restaurants.

Are you girlies ready for this?

Olive Garden - Spaghetti with Meatballs - 1110 calories, 50 grams of fat
Romano's Macaroni Grill - Spaghetti with Meatballs - 1430 calories, 81 grams of fat

As disgusting as that is, add in the salad and breadsticks you know you're going to eat when you go there and it gets much, (much) worse.

Olive Garden - 1 breadstick - 150 calories
Olive Garden - 1 serving salad with dressing - 350 calories

Macaroni Grill - 1 loaf peasant bread - 520 calories (we'll give the benefit of the doubt that you're not going to eat the whole loaf of bread, and use 1/2 - it's still 260 calories)
Macaroni Grill - green side salad with italian dressing - 420 calories

So, for a meal of spaghetti and meatballs, bread before the meal, and a side salad, and water to drink you're looking at:
Olive Garden: 1,610 calories
Macaroni Grill: 2,110 calories

Pretty horrifying, right? Maybe I should print this off and tape it up in my kitchen as motivation to cook?

Jennifer

Low Cal Dinners #2 - Spaghetti

So I've pretty much been a slacker in the cooking department. First we were out of town last weekend, then we spent Tuesday running errands, (I think I cooked Monday night, but I don't actually remember!), we ate dinner at Mattito's with the Swoffords last night, and suddenly I feel like I haven't eaten a healthy home-cooked meal in forever! My scale may or may not have reflected that this morning too!!

The other day at Sprout's (my all-time fav grocery store, I've seriously thought about emailing them to put one in T-Town, haha), I saw a spaghetti squash. This is something that has intrigued me for a while, but I've never quite been brave enough to test out. Well, thanks to you lovely ladies who read my blog, I decided I would test it out and document it for you! Aren't you lucky? ;-) I like to use blogging as a motivational tool sometimes, especially if there's a new recipe I want to try out! ha!

I've got to say, spaghetti squash = SUPER EASY! There was a little sticker on the squash that had directions on how to cook it, and I just followed them. Here they are:

Whole Spaghetti Squash

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice squash in half lengthwise. This was the hardest part of the whole thing. I ended up putting it in the microwave whole for 5 minutes before I sliced into it, and it was still pretty difficult. You may have to microwave it for a couple minutes more or less depending on how big your squash is, how sharp your knife is, and how big your muscles are.

3. Scoop out the seeds and the yuck, (like when you carve pumpkins).

4.Put squash on a cookie sheet cut side down and put in the oven. Roast for 45 minutes. *Don't let the cook time scare you away from doing this! Since it only takes about 3 minutes of prep time and 1 minute of work the squash comes out of the oven to when it's on the table, it's really easy to put it in the oven and then start on your sauce, salad or whatever side dish you want to make (or you could be like me and sit your tush in a pink armchair and chat with your momma on the phone and not make a salad or side dish!).


5. Remove the squash from the oven and turn it over. If the squash flesh is tender, it's done, if not slide it back in the oven for a few minutes. *Mine was done at 45 minutes.

6. Use a fork to run across the squash flesh and it magically turns into "spaghetti noodles." I was really amazed at this, I thought it was going to take a lot more effort, but the squash just kind of breaks into strands all by itself.

Sorry this picture isn't very good, it's so hard to take pictures of food!

That's it! I put all the "noodles" into a bowl and drizzled a little EVOO over them and sprinkled them with some salt and pepper, Parmesan cheese and dried parsley.


I served them with homemade spaghetti sauce, I actually made an effort to measure everything out so I could write a recipe for spaghetti sauce. I hope y'all like it! *This is my quick-fast spaghetti sauce, I also make one that's a lot more complicated when I have time, but honestly that's not very often.

Just a warning this makes way too much sauce for just two people, but I grew up cooking for my family of 6 people. However, it's really good as leftovers, and the sauce freezes really well, just take it out and microwave it when you want more.

Ingredients
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 lb ground turkey (I used the 93/7 kind)
1 cup sliced mushrooms (you can omit these, I know a lot of people aren't mushroom fans)
1 tsp garlic powder (you may want to start with 1/2 a tsp, we like garlic)
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 can diced tomatoes
3 15-oz cans tomato sauce (I always use Hunt's-just personal preference)


1. Drizzle some EVOO in a large skillet. Add ground turkey. Saute until the turkey is starting to turn color and add the onion. When onions are translucent and turkey is fully cooked add the mushrooms (if using), saute for a few minutes.
2. If the meat you're using looks greasy, drain the grease so you don't have greasy sauce.
3. Add the can of diced tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. Heat for a couple minutes then add the tomato sauce.
4. Simmer on med-low for at least 10 minutes.
5. Serve!

Really easy! The great thing about making your own sauce is that it doesn't have sugar or other weird ingredients/preservatives that are sometimes included in jarred sauce, and you can really control how it tastes. If you're not a fan of basil, half it or just leave it out. I like a lot of herbs in my food because I don't add salt to food, if you don't like things quite so herb-y, start with small amounts and add until it tastes good to you.

Sometimes I also add tiny chopped carrots at the same time I add the mushrooms, or spinach leaves at the very end to add some more veggies (you really can't taste either). The reason I always use mushrooms in my sauce is that when they're cooked with the meat they kind of act like a sponge and pick up some of the meat flavor, so when you're eating the sauce it seems like there's more meat in it than there actually is. I think spaghetti has a bad rap for being fattening because it's a pasta dish, but if you sub turkey (or even really lean beef) for regular ground beef, only eat a sensible amount of the pasta its wa-aay better than say chicken alfredo.

Now for some stats! Just in case you're interested in what the benefit of using squash instead of regular noodles might be. Like in case you're wondering if it's really worth it do to this, or if just using your regular go-to brand of spaghetti would be about the same nutritionally but would take less time.

I used calorie count to look up the calories, fat, and carbohydrates in spaghetti squash, regular spaghetti noodles, whole wheat spaghetti noodles, and the Barilla Plus noodles we normally eat with our spaghetti. All these stats are based on the suggested serving size of 1 cup cooked noodles.
Regular cooked, un-enriched spaghetti noodles - 221 calories, 1.3 grams fat, 43.2 grams total carbohydrates per serving
Whole Wheat spaghetti noodles - 174 calories, 0.8 grams fat, 37.2 grams total carbohydrates per serving
Barilla Plus spaghetti noodles - 200 calories, 1.0 grams fat, 38.0 grams total carbohydrates per serving
Spaghetti Squash "noodles" - 42 calories, 0.4 grams fat, 10.0 grams total carbohydrates per serving

I thought it was pretty interesting that there were fewer calories in 5 servings of the spaghetti squash "noodles" than in the regular spaghetti noodles! As someone who loves her pasta, I was pretty blown away by this! I think we'll start using the spaghetti squash a little more often perhaps with some different types of pasta sauces, and I'll keep y'all updated on the results!

Jennifer

Weekend Update

This past weekend Jonathan and I made a super quick trip to Nashville, Tennessee. We decided semi-last minute, (like two weeks ago), that we were going to a meeting there. By the time we had definitely decided we were going to go I looked up plane tickets and they were $688 each! Umm, no thank you. So we made the looo-oong drive to Nashville on Friday morning after Jonathan got off work.

We got to Nashville about 8:30 Friday night and crashed at our hotel. Got up Saturday morning and spent the next few hours in the meeting, but got out in time to see a few sights around town, and get some food before going to bed at 8:00 Saturday night. No lie. The two of us who are usually night owls were dosing off around 7:30. It was very out of the ordinary.

Because we went to bed so early Saturday night we were able to get up and moving early Sunday morning. We left Nashville around 8:30 and finally got home around 7:15 Sunday night. Like I said super-quick trip!! I'm glad we went, but I do not want to spend that long in a car again for a while!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from this weekend!


Welcome to Tennessee! Sign on the bridge over the Mississippi between West Memphis, Ar and Memphis, Tn.
Jonathan at dinner in Jackson, Tn. In case you were ever wondering what 2 hours of sleep in 36 hours looks like.
The Parthenon in Centennial Park in Nashville. Apparently this was built in 1896 and is a replica of the original Parthenon, and it's the same size.
It was such a beautiful day day! So happy the sunshine followed us to Tennessee.

Us in front of the Parthenon. When did we start looking so old??

Maybe we don't look so old in black and white.

My handsome husband.
The Tennessee state capitol building in downtown Nashville.

Us in front of the capitol.

Good weekend, glad we got to get out of town, but I'm hoping this weekend will not be so rushed!

Jennifer