His vs. Hers

Hello friends! Today I'm talking about PIZZA! I have often discussed the pizza battle with my friends. It seems we are constantly struggling with it because, the men in our lives ALWAYS fall back on pizza. I know that if I put Trevor in charge of dinner, we would have pizza every time. It is one of those foods that can rack up the daily calories in an instant. I don't know many who have the self control to eat just ONE slice.

Here is what I have decided to do for myself...I made a His and Her pizza tonight. Trevor's consisted of the traditional Baboli thin crust. It comes packaged and is usually on an end cap whenever I have found it. I also buy the Baboli pizza sauce. It comes with three packets so it lasts a good while. I buy low-fat shredded mozzarella, pepperoni and jalapenos. We have a huge discrepancy on pizza toppings so it only makes since to make my OWN. I was so tired of trying to tailor my section of the pizza to my liking.

My pizza was as follows: Right next to Trevor's packaged crust, I found the Whole Wheat and much smaller crusts I was looking for. My package comes with two crusts so I froze the extra. Now for the pizza sauce. Traditional pizza sauce is higher in sugar than regular old canned tomato sauce. I know this sounds boring but I jazzed it up with Italian seasoning blend. YUM! Then, here it comes like Jaw's fin skimming the water, the cheese! Our figure's worst enemy. I tend to form a mountain with it on my pizza, however, after calculating the points/guilt, I perfectly measured out a 1/4 of a cup. Now this may sound like nothing for a whole pizza, but my later ingredients will foil the scarcity of cheese. I then proceeded to form a new mountain of all my favorite veggies: an heirloom tomato diced, artichoke diced, baby bella mushrooms and olives! My pizza was overflowing with 0 point goodness. I barely sprinkled the veggies with some good parmesan so they didn't feel lonely. I didn't miss the meat, I didn't miss the sauce nor the overflow of cheese. I could eat and entire half of the pizza for 6 points! I foiled up the rest for lunch tomorrow!

Now, I have one more secret weapon for you to try...it seems so simple but make a loaded salad with a fat free dressing while it bakes. This will fill you up more than you know so that two slices become a little more difficult to eat. Bon Appetit!!!

HERBivores Rejoice!

After discussing the topic of herbs with my mom, I thought it would be wise to blog about our conclusions about the green stuff. Fresh herbs can completely transform a meal from ho-hum to wow! Especially when preparing those diets foods that lack some oomph! (sp?)
However, I have always been so reluctant to buy them. For one, they are expensive and you NEVER use all of it. Sometimes I feel like pruning the bushels it's sold in and fighting with the cashier, Father of the Bride Style. I have come to the conclusion that you MUST plan your every move for the week. I bought dill for the first time. It feels like such a random herb, but it went with my delicious Orzo Salad. See yesterdays post for details. I also had to plan out a few other recipes so that my dill purchase wasn't a complete waste. I decided to make a delicious Tzatziki Sauce to accompany all of my veggies and sandwiches for the week. It's a great substitute for Mayo, which can get boring, and it makes for an awesome addition to my cardboard flavored rice cakes. I eat them because they are only 1 WW point. Yay! The recipe for my Tzatziki is below.
Back to the Herb discussion...Barefoot Contessa showed me a great little trick to make that giant bushel of cilantro last. She recommends chopping it up and putting it into an ice cube tray. Whenever my recipe calls for cilantro I can just visit the freezer instead of my wallet. I'll let you know how that works out. Mom found a much simpler solution. She discovered bouillon style cilantro to use in your Tex-Mex soups. She said you can find it in the Hispanic section of any grocery store. I'll keep an eye out mom! :) Anyways, buying fresh herbs doesn't have to be remorseful if you just plan ahead and discover new ways to preserve them.



And yes, those are Texas shaped cilantro cubes! Nothing goes better than Texas and cilantro!

Tzatziki Sauce

1/2 cup of Low-Fat Plain Greek Yogurt or Low-fat Plain Yogurt
1/2 cup peeled and seeded cucumbers chopped fine
1/2 tsp of lemon zest
2 table spoons chopped dill
pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper

P.S. The longer it sits in the fridge the better it tastes! :)

Blog Revamp

I have come to the realization that I do not have an exciting enough life to blog about it. I don't have a baby to gush about, I don't have any masterful pieces of art to post, nor do I do much of anything. I work. A lot. I go to school most Saturdays and no one on earth wants to hear about the monotony of my life. Don't get me wrong... I am blessed to the Nth degree but feel too far removed from my surroundings to blog about them.
However, there is one thing that I think about almost as much as I think about Trevor, and that my friends is food. It inspires me, it is therapeutic and by golly it's the one thing I am confident enough to talk about on the internet. I came out of the womb asking for food, no... more like screaming for food. I love trying new things and exploring the flavors within every culture. Since I am momentarily tied down to Florida, I must experience all walks of life through my cooking. The flavors I have learned to experience in my married life have been full of hits and misses. I have a lot of misses and what better instance to write about than the time I blew up my kitchen when experiencing the cast iron for the first time..eh, I am sure you have all heard that story via my status updates. Along with my love for food has come the ever reluctant weight gain. I have battled it since senior year of high school when I stopped running 9 miles a day. Hence, I have learned a healthy way of cooking for both myself and my husband. He does not eat as strictly as I do so I have learned to modify his meal to be a bit heartier. I think that I might be able to help others with my ounce of food knowledge be it cooking for two or cooking lighter. I cook an eclectic mix of South Beach and Weight Watchers. This is simply because these are the ONLY two diets that have worked for me in the past 8 years of yo-yo dieting.
Friends and family, you will now log onto my blog to experience my cooking journey as I explore new meals that are healthier and tastier than ever. With all that said, I must tell you about the most amazing recipe that I have marinating in the fridge for when Trevor gets home. It's an orzo salad that will accompany my WW chicken piccata. I will make a lemon butter and caper sauce for Trevor's and a lighter version sauce for my chicken. Instead of real butter, I will use a butter substitute like Smart Balance. Here is the recipe for the orzo salad. This recipe hails from Barefoot Contessa, I just added half the oil and substituted her feta for reduced fat goat cheese. It's also good with roasted shrimp as an entree. MMM MMM.



Orzo Salad
Ingredients

* Kosher salt
* Good olive oil
* 1/2 pound orzo pasta (rice-shaped pasta)
* 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup minced scallions, white and green parts
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
* 1/2 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and medium-diced
* 1/4 cup small-diced red onion
* 1 oz light feta cheese or goat cheese

Directions

Fill a large pot with water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and a splash of oil, and bring the water to a boil. Add the orzo and simmer for 9 to 11 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it's cooked al dente. Drain and pour into a large bowl. Whisk together the lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Pour over the hot pasta and stir well.


Add the scallions, dill, parsley, cucumber, onion, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the orzo. Toss well. Add the feta and stir carefully. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour to allow the flavors to blend, or refrigerate overnight. If refrigerated, taste again for seasonings and bring back to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!!

The 7 month itch

Wow, long time no see blog. I have abandoned you for too long and I thought there might be an ounce of human life out there that might be interested in what our life has been like for the past seven months. I am not going to lie, I thought this blogging thing would be therapeutic for me in my new found life. However, all I have to say is, "Who has time to blog?" In all honesty, I don't have time to blog...but have decided to MAKE time for it. Our lives have been completely different. We are over halfway through our first year battle. Trevor just started a new semester and is full-blown busy all over again. I myself am just trying to stay afloat. Work has been amazing. I haven't looked back for even a second. There are so many rewards in teaching that I hardly pay attention to when Pay Day happens. My trials are that there are students that I just can't reach. There is still a lot of the school year left and it is definitely crunch time! Ding Ding Ding, let the fight begin. I want so badly for all of my students to make it to third grade. I just hope I have been the best asset I can be in their growth.

We were so blessed to have the opportunities to go home for both Thanskgiving and Christmas. (Sponsored by our parents) We finally met our neice Lilli. It was hard to part with her. My brother has grown so much, I'm afraid to admit, he is a full blown man and a foot taller than me.

We have moved since we first moved here, not about to get into that debacle, but needless to say, we are happier than ever. We have everything we could ever want and only 3.5 years left until we hopefully get to move back to Texas. We are shooting for Dallas but at this point I'll take any town with the word Texas following right behind it.

I am two classes and two State tests away from my Professional Certification....almost there! Until then, I will continue yo-yo dieting, experiencing the new found joy of Yoga and counting down the days until Florida is in the past. Dear Blog, don't be a stranger...

The End and The Beginning

Well, medical school is finally here. Monday morning Trevor will be thrown into a whole new adventure. The past few weeks have been so exciting. Trevor met up with some students from school and soon after I met a group of them as well. We have gone out plenty of times and have spent a lot of time on the beach. He will be surrounded by a great group of people. It's sort of sad when you think about it from my perspective. I met some awesome girls and it has been so nice to have some girl time/conversations, however, they will be just as unavailable as Trevor will be. :( On a brighter note, I start new teacher training tomorrow and will hopefully meet some new teachers at my own school.

I should have access to my classroom this coming Friday! I can hardly stand it any longer. My mom has been gathering up some things for me from her teaching days so I am so excited to receive anything she has. Trevor's mom sent me a huge box of really cute teacher things, like stickers and calendars and stamps! She also knows a second grade teacher who just moved to another grade so the lady just gave Carolyn all of her old stuff to give to me. I should be expecting about 5 boxes of goodies for my room!! I get a small budget from the school but now that I will have all of these things from my mom and Carolyn, I should be pretty much set up for life. :) I have decided to do an underwater theme for my room. I will have a lot of work to do creating all of my room ideas but that's what I think excites me most about getting started.

I was also accepted into a program at FAU for my teaching classes. The great thing about this program is that grants pay for all of your schooling. Considering I am not considered a Florida resident, this schooling would have cost me an arm and a leg and I need those to teach! I will be at school from 8-5 on Saturdays, so basically I will be working 6 days of week but by the end of this school year I will have obtained my professional teaching certification. Pretty nice!

Even better, my school is uniformed even for teachers so basically I have about four shirts I can switch off from and any cute pants I want. Even better, no more heels! Only when I WANT to.

I miss my family very much and have been very nostalgic for Dallas lately. There's just small things here that make me miss home. I am sure once I am working it will get easier. Friday, Trevor's family flies in for the white coat ceremony. His Mom, Dad, Omi and Opi will be here. Trevor can hardly wait and it's about time we see them! We have missed them very much! Now if only they could kidnap my baby niece so that I can hold her...I may not give her back if that were to happen.

Anyways, our first year of marriage is coming to an end but medical school and teaching are just beginning. We have so much to be thankful for. God bless you and your families too. I will have plenty to update you on after the first week of school for both of us! Take care!

New beginnings intertwined with family

This weekend was without a doubt, a family-studded good luck weekend. Mom and Mason flew in on Thursday to stay with us for the weekend. It was so refreshing to see familiar faces in my home. I think they brought some fairy dust with them because a slew of wonderful things happened upon their arrival. For starters, my sweet niece Liliana came into the world on that very same day. She is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to hold her. Hopefully we will get to Skype the family tomorrow to see her. I guess I will just have to be Cyber Aunt until Thanksgiving. As far as I know, Alisha is doing well and probably very happy to see that her baby is healthy and finally out of her tummy.

My day was especially memorable as well because I got a phone call that will change my life. I cannot go into detail until next week, but most of you know I am sure. If you are curious enough just text me. I finally feel like there is something for me here in Florida. Such wonderful things are happening to my Trevor and selfishly enough, I wanted a piece of the joy as well. All of my prayers were answered and God has awesome things in store for me. I feel like I have even more reassurance as to why God lead us here. It's okay to be happy for myself, right? :)

We spent some great days out at the beach, mixed with our Floridian hit-or-miss weather but all in all it was pretty dry here. Duke received more love than ever and is probably a bit too spoiled now, I guess that's what grandmas are for.

We ate some awesome food while they were here as well. There was a little spot on the bay where giant tarpon fish swarm around the docs. I swear I thought they were sharks! The food was great and I have a few pics I will upload later. Last night was yet another culinary adventure in my kitchen, as usual. We all know I have some ups and downs but the product was insanely delicious. We made halibut with a peach and pepper salsa that was out of this world. I need to post the recipe because it is so fresh and has so many different flavors that I must share it with the world.

I was sad to see my family leave today. I feel like it went by way too fast, but so many good things happened while they were here that made it perfect timing for their trip. Unfortunately, I won't be seeing them again until Christmas... too long from now. We are lucky, however, that Trevor's family will be coming to visit in three weeks for his white coat ceremony. The adventure continues in Florida and I am glad you are all along for the ride. More to come as usual, God Bless!

Good things to come

It has been awhile since the last entry but some crazy new things have been coming my way. I cannot go on the record yet but I feel like God has a plan for me. All I can do is follow Him and hopefully I will end up in the best place possible for myself. I have another big week so hopefully something great will present itself. I can assure you, anyone who reads this blog will know shortly what I have been up to lately.

Good things are happening to a lot of people in my life actually. Kelly just found out she is having another sweet little boy, Jackie is pregnant with her first baby, Lexie is a happy newly wed, Kerry and Logan are in the process of buying their first home and Kerry has just landed a 3rd grade teaching position. I am about to be an aunt ANY day now since Alisha is about to pop and hopefully some new doors will be opening for my Meggy in the boy department. :) And to top it all off, my parents will be celebrating 19 years of marriage tomorrow.

My mom and my brother are flying in on Thursday! I am so excited that the timing all worked out because seeing some familiar faces will be so refreshing. We have lots of yummy seafood recipes planned and plenty of beach time to fit in. I am praying that the weather stays like it has been this past week so we can show off our new home. Mom and Dad have been here before but I think it's a bit different when you're hangin' with locals. :)

I can't wait to blog next week about their trip with us. I will definitely post some pics! Take care all and thanks for reading.