If the boot fits..

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy Friday, internets!

The sun is shining and I am in a good mood (rare). Tyler gets outta work early and he’s taking all next week off. And we are going to a corn maze/pumpkin patch tomorrow. And Sunday we are having our Canadian Thanksgiving. You bet your bippy Tyler’s the one sticking his hand up that turkey butt.

I think listening to FIT Radio first thing this AM helped too. I like being in a dancey mood while I’m brushing my teeth and eating spoonfuls of Nutella (and not in that order).

So yesterday, I went shopping. The mall I went to takes forever to walk around, and I got through about 3/4 of it and still hadn’t found anything I was there for. Sure, I tried on stuff that looked good, but either the jeans looked redic on me if I tried to sit down, or they didn’t carry my size shoe. Yeah, I know I know I wasn’t there for winter boots, but dude they were calling to me yesterday. I finally got my tush in a sweet pair of jeans THAT WERE ON SALE- so I figured that justified that boot purchase I scored right after.

You bet the top was on sale, too. Hello, orange clearance sticker! (Wearing the lulu headband from Chelsea– thanks girl!)

Dinner last night was a success. I wanted Mac n Cheese like it was nobody’s business, and I wanted to make it from scratch. So, I played around with this recipe.

Mac n Cheese Y’all

Here’s what you’ll need:

A box of macaroni
1 tbsp butter
1/4 c flour
1/4 c minced onion
2 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
1.5 cups shredded cheddar
2 tbsp Frank’s buffalo sauce
4 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup bread crumbs
8 pieces BACON

Here’s what you do:

Cook the bacon. Once it’s cooled, crumble and set aside.
Cook the macaroni according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Spray baking dish and preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a BIG ‘OL skillet, melt butter. Add flour and stir with a whisk (here’s what I did because I was feeling bad ass. I used the same skillet I used for the bacon and I didn’t drain all the grease. I know, it’s fatty, but I have been super healthy all week and I figured a splurge is a splurge is a splurge).
Add onion, milk and chicken broth and continue stirring with a whisk. Increase heat and stir until it comes to a boil and begins to thicken.
Remove from heat; add cheese and buffalo sauce. Once it’s fully incorporated, add macaroni, baby spinach and crumbled bacon. (Again, I HAD to add the bacon because I intended for Tyler to eat dinner)
Pour the mixture into prepared baking dish, top with parmesan and bread crumbs.
Bake for 20 minutes, then broil for a few minutes to brown the bread crumbs.

I was mindful of my portion because I planned on some cardio afterwards.

And cardio, I did.

25 minutes of SUPER INTENSE spinning, and 10 minutes of sprint intervals. Topped off with 100 stability ball situps.

Ok, and now onto serious conversation. Let’s talk sleeping arrangements. In Boston, Layla had her bed and I had mine. A queen sized bed. And usually Layla slept on her bed, except in the winter and when I wasn’t home. But she had her designated space and I had mine. Since moving here and adding another body into the equation, things are different. She still has her bed, and Tyler and I have our King. Let me draw for you how we usually go to sleep: (note: characters are not drawn to scale)

To clarify, I put a skirt on my character. And no, we don’t smile when we sleep, but that’s how I draw my stick figures.

Then, at some point in the night, when we are sound asleep, something happens.

Tyler is super comfy, and I am smooshed off the bed from the pup. And yes, at that point, I DO have a frown on my face. There is so much dead space in the middle of our bed. It’s like Layla wants me gone, and needs to keep an eye out-from a distance- on Tyler to make sure he gets a good night sleep.

PREPOSTEROUS I SAY.

I have things to do, so I must be off.

Plans for the weekend?

September Foodie Penpal Reveal!

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Highlights from the weekend:

Digital thermostat installed (nerd alert)
More crying over homework
Dinner at Joe and Twyla’s
Went to 2 of Tyler’s football games
Watched a dude snap his leg in half
Drank lots of kombucha
Slept while sitting up

But this post isn’t dedicated to this weekend’s happenings. Oh no. It’s all about my September Foodie Penpal goodies!

Check out all the loot I got from Blair!

Before I give my two cents on these yumm-o treats, lemme c&p all the deets on how this penpal thing works- and how you can join, too!

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!

-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!

-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)

-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.

-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re interested in participating for October, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by October 4th as pairings will be emailed on October 5th!

*If you’re from somewhere besides the US, Canada or Europe and want to participate, send me an email and I’ll see if we get enough interest this month!

…back to MY stuff..

Fancy schmancy granola. I hate to admit that I have yet to try any of this because I am still working on the chocolate granola I got from my pen pal last month! It really looks delish and I can’t wait to work my way to this bag!

Chili and Cinnamon chocolate. Yup. So good. I don’t even need to go into details on this. Chocolate anything is pretty much game as far as my tastebuds go.

Grrr, I haven’t tried these yet either! I fully intended on making pumpkin bread or muffins last week and topping it with this coconutty goodness, but time got the best of me. I think with Canadian Thanksgiving coming up (next week!) it might make it’s way into a dish 🙂

OH MY. I ripped open this bag 2 weeks ago after ingesting a few alcoholic beverages and watching Babymakers. Ay carumba that wasabi stuff kills the nose. But it hurt so good. I will definitely be looking for these at the store to have as a reserve in the cupboard.

A bar with chia seeds in it. I am totally won over. Sweet, filling, the end.

A huge thank you to Blair for sending me an awesome package this month!

Sweet-n-Sour Crockpot Chicken

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy Friday, Folks!

Dinner last night turned out, so I’m going to share the recipe with all y’all.

Sweet-n-Sour Crockpot Chicken

Here’s what you’ll need:

Chicken (I used two breasts, so adjust accordingly)
Sweet-n-sour BBQ sauce
1 green pepper
1/2 yellow onion
10 oz pineapple chunks
Rice

Here’s what you do:

1. Pam (or grease) your crockpot.

2. Throw the chicken in (you can use thawed or frozen, just adjust the cook times accordingly. 2-3 hours thawed, 4-6 frozen)

3. Coat the chicken with sweet-n-sour sauce. (for two breasts [tee hee hee] i used 1/2 bottle)

4. Throw in chopped pepper, onion and pineapple (keep them in large pieces).

5. When that’s all ready, make rice. Take two forks and pull apart the chicken, while it’s still in the crock so it can absorb more juices. Then throw your crockpot crap over the rice. Then eat it.

It’s really really good. It gets the rice all saucy-like. It’s practically like chinese takeout, except there’s no MSG. And you can control the amount of sauce. Add in more veggies if you want to be SUPER healthy!

******

Yesterday’s workout:

25 minutes kickboxing

10 min quick run with the dog

lots of combo moves with my gliding discs (like lunges with lateral raises and such)

upper body combo (bicep curls/overhead press, hammer curls/tricep kickbacks, yadda yadda yadda)

100 stability ball situps.

Today’s workout:

~~Running around the house like a maniac because I couldn’t solve the last problem of one of my homework assignments.~~

Walk the dog.

40 minutes Spin

30 minutes full body strength moves

******

Tonight I have yet another new-to-me recipe to try out, some Apricot Ales (Shout out to Kysha, WHAT WHAT!) and a boozy/awesome concoction to try.

G2G (that’s ‘gotta go’ in teenage text talk)

Black Beans and Cookies and Nutella..Oh My!

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

It’s time for another homework break!

Basically, I have been doing math all day. And not the fun kind of math where Jen+chocolate=happy. The kind where you have to use multifactor productivity ratios and such. Yucky.

I did get my foodie pen pal stuff in the mail today, but I can’t write about it until the last day of the month.

I spoke with my wedding photographer today. She probably thinks I’m psychotic, but really I was just jacked on coffee.

I made black bean soup!

I used to always get the black bean soup from Panera back home, and I got the sudden craving the other day, so I bought the ingredients while I was out (basically, just the beans) and finally got around to making it this afternoon.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 big cans of black beans
3 cups water
1/2 cup salsa
1 t chili powder
1 t paprika
1/2 chopped onion
1 T olive oil

Here’s what you do:

heat the oil in a saucepan. add the onion. after a few minutes (allowing the onion to soften), add the spices. After another minute, add the beans, salsa and water.
bring the stuff to a boil for a few minutes. turn the heat down, cover the pot and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or so.
Take half the soup out and place in a blender. Blend. Add it back to the rest of the soup in the pot. Bring it back to a boil, cover and simmer until you’re ready to eat.

And because I have a stupid huge sweet tooth, I made an old favorite- with a little twist. Think chocolate chip cookies meets cake pan meets jar of nutella. YUP.

It’s just your average chocolate chip cookie recipe

a bag o’chips
1 cup o’butter
3/4 c brown sugar
3/4 c sugar
JUST UNDER 2 c flour
2 eggs
1.5 t vanilla
1 t baking soda
NUTELLA

Beat the butter. Add the brown sugar until fully incorporated. Then the sugar. Beat in each egg one at a time. Add the vanilla. The soda. Then the flour. Last is the chips.
Grease an 8×8 dish. Coat the bottom of the dish with about 1/2 the cookie dough (do this immediately. AKA: don’t let the full batch of dough sit in the fridge)
After you coat the bottom of the dish with 1/2 the dough, stick THAT in the fridge. Leave the other half out. As soon as you put the dish in the fridge, preheat the oven for 375. When it beeps telling you it’s ready, take the dish out of the fridge, smear with nutella (like 3/4 cup). Then cover with the remaining dough.
Baking for 30 minutes (it might be different where you are- I’m at high altitude)

If loving this is wrong, I don’t EVER wanna be right.

EVER.

I’m gonna go drink a gallon of water and run 5 miles now. Bye bye.

Recipe break!

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

It’s me again.

I have been doing homework ALL.DAMN.DAY. Lots of reading and researching and discussion questions…ay yay yay.

I have been breaking it up with household chores, errands, walks, and intermittent exercises.

And recipe making. Since it’s time for me to take another mental break, I decided to write a post to share my recipes from today!

First up, Summer Salad. This was inspired by a recipe from Athena’s blog-she actually made it for me when I stayed at her place last month. I didn’t have the exact ingredients, so I made up my own.

Summer Salad

Here’s what you’ll need:

cucumber
tomatoes
onion
garbanzo beans
kidney beans
olive oil
lemon juice
S&P

Here’s what you do:

1. Dice up the cucumber, tomatoes, and onion (I am not listing amounts because that’s up to you. I made just enough for lunch/dinner, but you can obviously make as much as you want- and add more of the ingredients you like better)

2. Rinse the beans.

3. Mix all the ingredients. For my batch, I used 2 capfuls of lemon juice and 3 capfuls of olive oil.

4. S&P to taste.