A new discovery

This week I found a new blog and I am in love. It's silly to be in love with something like a blog, but this one makes my life easier, so how can I not love it.
May I introduce you to A YEAR OF SLOW COOKING. This woman, Stephanie O'Dea, dedicated 365 days of her life to finding a way to use her crockpot at home. She made something different in it EVERY DAY for a YEAR, deserts, appetizers, dinners, deserts, breakfasts, playdough, crayons, candles...you name it!! And well, she also wrote this book and was on Rachel Ray, too! After I spent about an hour two hours looking through all of her (indexed in alphabetical order) recipes on Friday night (I know, I have a really exciting life), I found one that I had EVERYTHING in my house to make!

I made this deliciousness in a bowl:PIZZA SOUP
I mostly followed Stephanie's recipe when I made it this time, except that instead of baby tomatoes I used the two small tomatoes that I had in the fridge from Taco night, I omitted the mushrooms (because I HATE cooked mushrooms), and added a little bit more of the italian sausage (because I had 3 left, and the recipe only called for 2). Bobby just put the rest of the box of bowties that I had in the pantry...which was probably twice as much as the recipe called for. I didn't have any mozzerella, so I garnished with freshly grated parmesan cheese, which was even better!!

Bobby and I really enjoyed it, though I think it had WAY too much pepperoni in it and needed even more pasta. My cousin Rachel, (who came to spend the night and went shopping with me and made me smile) liked it, but thought it was too spicy...must've been all the pepperoni. We all agreed that it was a little too greasy though...again, I think it was the pepperoni.

The next time I make it, I'll change it up just a little bit to make everyone happy. Less pepperoni for sure...the recipe calls for a whole cup, but I'd probably use only half a cup, and lots more pasta. Stephanie suggests 1/3 to 1/2 cup pasta...but I'm pretty sure Bobby said there was about 1 1/2 cups of pasta left in the box. I still think it needed more. Bobby said that adding some chicken to this would be good, too! This is definitely something that will be added to the menu again. It's a great winter soup, and my hubby actually ate vegetables! I'm so proud of him:) Your family and friends will probably enjoy this very much...especially if they like pizza, I suggest trying it! It didn't take very long to do all the prep, just cleaning and cutting the veggies and meats. After all that's done, just throw it in a crockpot and go on with your day!

Happy Cooking!!

Goals for 2010...

I've been seeing a lot of posts with goals for 2010 on other people's blogs. Maybe I should set some goals for myself, but where to start?

1. De-clutter and Organize the House

Our house seems to get cluttered easily. It must be because we come home and relax after work. So, the magazines pile up, the mail sits on the table, things sit on the counter, and we don't do much about it. Well, this is the year that things are going to change!
Solution: I'm going to make sure that we get ourselves into a good habit of putting everything away when we're finished with it, and finding homes for things that don't have one yet. If that means buying more Rubbermaid totes, I will...and maybe I should buy some Rubbermaid stock shares, while I'm at it. I probably keep that company in business!

2. Keep a Clean House
This sort of goes with the first one, but is separate at the same time. I don't dust, vacuum, or clean the rest of the house often enough. I get home from both jobs and I'm absolutely exhausted. Once I sit down, I'm finished for the evening...I don't care if anything gets done. Terrible, I know, but imagine if you worked for 8 hours at one job, then went to another one for 4 or 5 hours, then had to come home and cook dinner, vacuum, dust, wash the dishes, do laundry, and clean the rest of the house after that. Maybe some of you do that already, or maybe you have husbands that actually help with that stuff, but that's not how my life works. I do it all on my own!
Solution: Pick one or two tasks to do a day and do them as soon as I get home.

3. Cook More/Eat Healthier
I don't cook dinner very often. Usually, I forget to put something out the night before, and then it's 6 and I don't know what to do, so I find something in the freezer(premade frozen meatballs) that's easy to cook, pop it in the microwave and make some pasta to go with it. Or, we both just reheat something that we find in the fridge. Half the time, I want something he doesn't, so we just make ourselves dinner...and that's usually at 7:30-8:00 at night. Sad, isn't it?? So, I'm going to start meal planning, whether Bobby likes it or not, and see how it works for me.
Solution: Menu plan for the week ideally on Sunday Night for the whole week. Be sure to include more fruit and veggies in our meals.

4. Work out more
I think I may have told you this already, but Bobby's parents got us a Wii and a Wii Fit, along with the Biggest Loser game, for Christmas. Well, we have it all set up in the living room, and we've been using it, but not regularly. With Noelle's wedding coming up in 5 months I can't put on any more weight, especially since my dress is already here! It would be great to have to have it taken in! Also, I would love to lose some more weight so that if and when I get pregnant, I'm not GINORMOUS! I don't want to be one of those women who you can't tell if they're pregnant or just plain fat. Hahaha
Solution: Work out a minimum of 3 days a week for 30 minutes using the Wii Fit or Biggest Loser game.

5. Save Money
I'm not too bad at this, really...but sometimes I walk into Michael's and go CRAZY! I'll buy more stuff to make jewelry, or other craft things, and I spend way more than I should. This usually happens when we go to WalMart, too. We go with a list, and then come home with way more than we intended and we spend a ton more than we should, for sure!
Solution: Go to Michael's only when necessary(That is, when I run out of something). Buy only the things we need while grocery shopping, and don't put anything extra in the cart. Oh, and we need to put a little bit of each pay check into our savings accounts. That might be harder for Bobby to do than me, but I'm going to make him!

6. Participate in a Craft Show
I have been selling a lot of jewelry as of lately, and making a lot of it for gifts, too. I would like to continue doing this, and try to get some stuff made so that I can participate in craft show this year. Penns Manor has one in November, and that's quite a long way from now, but I would really like to do it this year. Maybe I can find another one to do before that, so I can get the feel of it.
Solution: Make a couple of pieces of jewelry a month to reserve for a craft show. Get info on the craft show asap and save money to buy a stand. If I can't do the craft show, I'll have to sell them to friends or create an Etsy store.

7. Spend More Time With Family and Friends
This one is easy, but after 2009, I've realized how important this goal really is. I can always use more quality time with the important people in my life :)
Solution: Same as my goal...spend more time with my family and friends. haha.

Annnnd, my last goal:
8. UPDATE MY BLOG MORE OFTEN!
I know I haven't been so consistent with updating this thing...I'm either busy, or my day hasn't been that exciting to share with you.
Solution: Update at least twice a week, whether things have been exciting or not, so I can keep all of my readers (even though I don't think there are too many of them) happy :)

I think those are all realistic goals. Let's see how I do as the year progresses. Wish me luck!

To all of you returning to work and school tomorrow, try not to stress out over it too much, dress warmly, and be careful on those snowy roads! I know I'm not looking forward to it, but we have to do it sometime, right??

I'm beginning to understand...

...why people have schedules for cleaning and have the need for meal planning.

I'm going to attempt to create a schedule for our home and try the meal planning thing for a while. My husband says "How do I know that I'm going to be hungry for tacos on Tuesday?" And my response to that was "You don't, you're just going to have to eat what I cook!"

We both work all day and come home super tired and want to take a nap. Well, I fight the urge and dive into household chores. If I took a nap everyday, we'd never get anything done around here. I feel that if I can plan ahead for dinners, I won't have to wait until 8 or 9 to have dinner. Hubby on the other hand, takes a nap everyday after work, and would be perfectly content with eating fast food every night. I'm not up for that anymore! Time to take control and do what I need to do! So I'm browsing other blogs and trying to figure out what type of schedule is going to work for me. While doing this, I'm watching foodnetwork and trying to find some recipes to feed Mr. Picky!