Getting our Spring on!

I haven't had a recipe worthy of posting.

Just kinda been cooking simple (paleo) things.

How's my challenge?

EH.....diet wise...FABULOUS...gym? ha.

I have every odd going against my motivation right now.

One, day light savings is the greatest day ever for those with horses.

Perfect riding weather when I get home.

Two, the weather being so nice has made it perfect timing for us to say bye bye dirt lot hello greenery!

In order to get sprinklers to our back yard we are having to tap the line in the front yard.

I wasn't the happiest camper digging a trench for our wash rack so we decided to rent something to make it a little easier....

Has this made the process easier?

The digging part...yes, but over all...no.

Matt not only cut one, or two BUT three electrical lines.

Oy vey! We are that couple that something else always breaks or goes wrong during renovations.

Can I blame him? Not really, he didn't lay any of the lines in the yard so it’s not like he knew where they were, did I blame him? Yes.

I'm an accountant, I have a budget, and I want to stick to it.

Matt's a true cowboy and knows that it's life, and it will never be perfect.

We are set back a little on time line for when we wanted this done...HOWEVER...trenches are dug for our grass, sprinklers for the arena AND lights for the arena.

It has been a stressful weekend, full of go wrongs, accidents and young couple bickering, but after sitting together on our porch last night, it will be worth it.

(Notice my succulents are still alive : )  Notice they also have a barrier around them. Why? because I own a puggle that eats everything....everything!)

Holy Easy and OMG Delicious!

Week one completed!

NO CHEATING!!

Well....I had vodka with soda water : (

No beer or wine though!

I went to a Mexican restaurant, NOT ONE CHIP, and went to an Italian restaurant, NOT ONE BITE OF BREAD.

I feel great!

Update: weigh in at 119 lbs!

How's my gym commitment?...still lacking

Only made it to the gym three times last week out of the 4 I was shooting for.

So hard when I have horses that I, not only want to ride, but NEED to.

They are athletes too ya know ; )

ANYWAYS! On to the good stuff.

Matthew and I stocked up on Friday on meat and produce and spent $400 at Costco, how is that even possible!

I have to admit I left a little mad at myself for not paying attention.

Even though we bought a TON of food, I didn't want to cook that night.

We decided to pick up a rotisserie chicken and eat that with some veggies.

Where am I going with this?...there is a point I promise.

Well last night, when trying to figure out what on earth to create (that was Paleo), I was adamant about making what we had in the fridge work since we exceed our monthly food budget in one day.

I literally threw this meal together and SHOCKED Matthew with how incredibly delicious it was!

This meal was created from left over’s of two other meals we made.

Bell peppers from this recipe:

Chicken Kale and bell peppers

and capers from this recipe:

Mediterranean Chicken

I took NO pictures because I wasn't hopeful of this turning out as fabulous as it did.

What should I call this?

For the sake of this blog let's just say

Left Over Rotisserie Chicken and Random refrigerator items (a pretty accurate title)

Ingredients:

3 Bell peppers

Left over Rotisserie Chicken

Capers

1 cup Mushrooms

1/2 jar of Marinara Sauce (White Linen Collection) **

1 tbs Mined Garlic

S&P

**IMPORTANT** okay seriously White Linen Collection Marinara Sauce from Costco is the most DELICIOUS canned sauce I have ever had. It's my entire family's choice of sauce. AND its 100% Paleo! Can it get any better?

Check it out for yourself!

White Linen Marinara Sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut tops of bell peppers off and clean out the seeds

3. Place peppers on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper with the cut off top facing up.

4. Bake peppers for 15 mins.

5. In the meantime, mix left over rotisserie chicken, marinara sauce (recommend White Linen brand), minced garlic, and S&P in a bowl

6. After the bell peppers have baked for 15 min, take out the baking sheet fill the peppers with chicken and marinara mix.

7. Once all the bell peppers are filled top with capers.

8. Put now the stuffed peppers back in the oven and bake for another 15 min.

The ONLY picture I have are my left over’s that I am enjoying for breakfast.

Simply Amazing!!

If you make this please let me know what you think!

XO

Day 2! Grilled Chicken with a Mediterranean flair!

Today is the start of DAY 2 of my challenge!

And so far NO cheating : )

Last night Matthew made my Kale Chicken and Cumin recipe (can be found Here) and I have to say his blew mine out of the water!

So happy he's the cook so I don't have to.

However, I do HAVE to cook Sunday nights, ugh!

So I am going to share what I made Sunday because I am pretty proud of it!

Grilled Chicken with a Mediterranean flair! 

What you will need

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes

16-18 large Kalamata olives, pitted and halved

3 Tbs capers, rinsed

Olive oil

boneless, skinless chicken breast

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 475℉.

Toss tomatoes, olives, capers, and 2 tsp of olive oil in a zip lock bag.

Season chicken breasts on both sides with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat a large  skillet over high heat.  Once hot, add 2 tsp olive oil and sear chicken on both sides.

Turn heat to medium-high and add another 2 tsp of olive oil (should be hot but not smoking) and continue to cook until deep golden brown (about 4 minutes).

Use tongs to flip chicken, then add tomato mixture to skillet.

Transfer chicken and mixture to an oven pan and roast chicken until cooked through and tomatoes have softened, about 15-18 minutes.

Transfer to plates and spoon tomato mixture over top to serve.

Matt made the veggies

He roasted zucchinni,  olives,  capers and peppers in olive oil and salt and pepper

The veggies were SO good and pair with the chicken fabulously!

Enjoy!

: )

My Challenge begins today!

Alright, time to mark my calendar.

I am OFFICIALLY making a verbal and written (yes I am signing a contract) commitment to my self.

I am super excited about this.

For the next two months I am 100% Paleo and a gym babe 4 days a week.

4 days a week might not seem like much but I got two big animals that need exercise themselves if I still want to call myself a barrel racer.

I took before pics but a little embarrassed to post. If I get awesome after results I will have no problem showing off my success!

As of this morning I weight 122 lbs. at  5 ft. nothing, I was told I should be 100 lbs. >.< WHAT?!

Realistically, I know that will never happen. My goal weight is to be 115 lbs. by April 25th.

I am done dreaming of the body I want and I am done feeling sorry for myself and wishing my tummy was smaller.

Well, wishing and dreaming isn't going to give me the results, it's DOING!

 I am excited but nervous because I have the world's largest sweet tooth!

I will post recipes and weight loss (maaaybe ; ) ) along the way!

Wish me luck.

xo

It's not rocket science

Only 5 days left before I have to give myself (with the help of Matt) 100% dedication.

We are signing a contract and all...

Will post our day one for details, meals, progress and probably mainly complaining that I miss food that I never ate too much of to begin with (i will just be complaining about it because I can't have it, typical woman).

Wash rack open for business!

With the weather warming up quickly I realized, MY HORSES ARE FILTHY!

We decided to build me a wash rack since last time I created a muddy mess in the yard.

Here are pics of our hard work, before and afters, love them!

Like my outfit? Yoga pants and cowgirl boots  : )

Had to redo it a few times thanks to puppy paws.

I want to add a little comedy to this blog by pointing out Lil' Bill in some of these pics (Billy is my famous goat, well, famous among my friends)

My friend Jen just LOVES this goat.

She wants him to have his own T.V. show.

Not going to lie, he is the center point of our entertainment most of the times

So, you will notice in the picture below, Matt had to, ONCE AGAIN, reassemble Billy's house

You can see he is sun bathing. House is together, where it's supposed to be.

Now in this picture, which was taken 10 mins after the one above, Billy has relocated AND the roof of this house is now ajar.

Billy is again sunbathing.

In the next and final picture you will see that Billy's one house has now become two bottoms.

Billy is sunbathing.

Before/After

I'm talking about my goats house.

The white part is now his boat while the grey is his bed.

My vet always tells me that goats are the most pointless animal.

Did you smile while reading this post?

Not so pointless then : )

 Next project is........GRASS!

Have a FAB Monday!

xo

Violets are blue, roses are...bacon?

Late yes,  I know...

I never know what to get my significant other for Valentines Day.

I feel like a "man's gift" is hard around this particular holiday.

Us ladies have, jewelry, flowers, teddy bears and I could go on and on.

Well, I can't really get a man roses.

However, I CAN get him bacon!

Bacon + Roses = Man bouquet!

Genius!

Could not get easier.

Roll the strips to give a "rose" like look.

I put the fat side on the bottom and the meat side on top.

Use tooth picks to hold the bacon in its curl and this will also create a stand for the bacon to stay up.

I ended up putting the bacon on a rack with the sheet underneath to catch the grease.

I bought a cheap faux rose bouquet from Michael's (make sure its the kind that have a green stick thing in the middle).

Cook bacon at 400 degrees for 30 mins

Once done, pull out the tooth picks and place on the emptied out rose buds.

Vuala!

A fun way to say I love you!

I cannot believe it's not hummus!

I was SO sad when I discovered chick peas are NOT Paleo. WHAT?!

They are considered a legume.

Legumes are similar to grains.

They weren’t consumed by the paleo hunter-gatherer because they needed to be cooked in order to be edible.

Legumes also have similar traits to grains in their make-up; they contain phytates (phytic acid) which inhibit nutrient absorption and cause inflammation.

Luckily, there is a substitute....ZUCCHINI!

Weird, I know, but this recipe has been a great way for me to curb that hummus craving

Ingredients

2 medium zucchini, peeled and chopped

½ cup tahini

⅓ cup lemon juice

⅓ cup olive oil

3 garlic cloves

1½ teaspoons cumin

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in the base of a food processor, and process until smooth.

Serve with crisp raw veggies, such as carrots, celery sticks, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, or cucumber slices, for dipping.

*I found tahini at Vons in the section where all the kosher food is; just a tip because it took me awhile to find it. It has a peanut butter type texture it is not a spice. It's a paste made from ground up sesame seeds*

Enjoy!

xo

P.S. honey has a sinus infection : ( I will post his favorite PALEO soup packed with sinus infection fighting herbs!

Brides Against Breast Cancer

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a fab weekend xo

On Sunday, there was not only ANOTHER wedding convention in town, but also a WONDERFUL organization called "brides against breast cancer".

Well my mother figured this would be something great to volunteer for.

And it was!

Brides Against Breast Cancer donates $0.71 on the dollar of every wedding dress sale to the research and awareness of breast cancer.

All the wedding dresses are donated and are listed at 25% to 75% off of retail price!

We met some amazing people and really took a moment to pray for our health and the health of others.

If you are a soon to be bride, here is their website to find when they will be in your town.

Brides against breast cancer

Take this opportunity to not only find a wonderful designer gown at a discounted price, but to support an incredible cause!

 

What I love about Blogs...

My morning normally starts with a cup of coffee and blog reading.

I started to think this morning, "why do I like reading what others blog about so much?"

Well for me, it's life, love and honesty. Reality T.V. but reading it instead of watching it.

You learn so much about people.

You laugh with them, cry with them, make their meals and crafts.

We bond with these people and have never even met them before!

They share the moments they have with their family, friends and loved ones. Even the embarrassing ones!

Life is beautiful and sharing the good and bad moments with the world is an amazing thing.

Be thankful for today and remember to always count your blessings.

 

Today is the oldest you've been and the youngest you'll ever be again.

xo

Succ-u-whats?!

I have lived in the desert for....over TEN years now (wow), and am just discovering succulents.

I have a tendency to not only love something almost immediately, but get obsessed over it.

Well, readers, my new obsession are cacti! :D

Not the prickly kind let me be clear on that!

Aren't they adorable!

Yes, that is my choice of word!

Matt took me to Lowe's to buy one or two and he wanted to make sure I didn't kill them before we bought anymore.

(Let's just say my green thumb is basically non-existing.)

Well, having the obsessive personality that I have I ventured out on my own to get more of these darling little plants!

Our horse property is like a blank canvas. We came from a 1/2 acre of ALL grass and now we have dirt, that's it.

So we FINALLY have some greenery!

Sonney-bob (our Christmas tree that we planted) doesn't really count since my not so green thumb is killing him...which I read is pretty hard to do.

Good Luck my little succulents! If these make it a month I have been given the "OK" to get another barrel full :)

Goo Goo for Ga Ga

I have been a naughty blogger!

Between trying to find a wedding venue (which btw I still haven't picked one) and my pipes breaking on every end of my home, I hadn't had much time to cook, clean, let alone blog.

Things are slowly getting back to the norm at the ranch.

But, I wanted to share my fab weekend that I had with some friends of mine.

We went to Lady Ga Ga!

Living in Las Vegas you think you have seen all types of walks of life.

Well, gaga brought fresh new "characters" into my world!

What a great time we had!

A giant wedding convention was here in town.

I had NO idea how much went into a wedding and how much they cost.

A drive through chapel getting hitched by Elvis is sounding pretty good right about now.

I may have not found a venue for the wedding, but I did find where my bachelorette party will be (which is FAR more important might I add)!

My mother took this picture FYI.

Oh, so in additions to a DIY project...have you ever heard of a Cowboy DIY?...

Me neither.

But I have one! Well...Matt does anyways.

For about 4 months Matt would tell me "I need a welder." Not want, or would like, need.

I couldn't imagine what he needed one for since we had all the panels we needed to create our stalls.

Here is what he needed  his welder for....

Guess who is in charge of pulling this thing around so he can practice roping.