What's Cookin' Good Lookin'?

I know what you are thinking.  You are thinking, " You have been on your own for 1 year, how much could your cooking have evolved?" Okay, maybe you aren't thinking that.  Perhaps you don't even care.  Either way, I am going to tell you allll about it! =)

When I first got married I was the definition of a pinterest chef.  Every meal was an hour long ordeal, using ingredients I had never heard of, only to serve the meal to a husband who probably would have been just fine with plain old chicken.  This lasted for a couple months until Summer hit.  We were barely home and also becoming more conscious of our spending.  The thing with extravagant pinterest meals is that while they are great, they can call for ingredients that aren't readily available in my pantry and don't have long shelf-time.  Our grocery bills were way higher then they had to be, so I decided to simplify my cooking a bit and save my "pinterest meals" for 1-2 days a week.  I enjoyed cooking, I enjoyed taking a risk and trying something new and didn't want to give that up.

Well, summer winded down, the school year started up, and our grocery bill was still high.  I didn't get it.  Sean would tell me simple meals were fine, but I thought I WAS making simple meals.  It took almost 8 months for me to grasp what simple really was.  I realized I didn't have to be a pinterest chef.  I didn't have to be the wife who made elaborate fancy meals every night or even once or twice a week.  Sean was okay with simple, I was okay with simple, and our budget was really okay with simple.  Now, I save a fancy new recipe, for maybe once a month.  I have NOTHING against people who make elaborate meals often.  If you are able, more power to ya! It just isn't for me.  I still enjoy cooking, I still enjoy taking risks, but I use that to find SIMPLE recipes that fit what we want.  Sean and I try and be conscious of our calorie intake so I am constantly on the lookout for "skinny" versions of food and substitutes to make food even healthier and less calories.  I enjoy trying to find the cheapest, simplest, lowest calorie version of something.  As for our grocery budget, it is still higher then we'd like.  I am working on using coupons more, buying generic, and stretching the food that we have out for longer periods of time.  We eat a lot of chicken, a lot of broccoli, and a lot of noodles.  But we enjoy that and it works for us.

I have developed some easy staple meals.  These meals are quick to prepare quickly after getting home from work.  They are also SO SIMPLE!  I am not creating anything new, I am not a 5 star chef, I am just a wife trying to work with a budget and desire to simplify.  

Some of our staple dinner meals:

• Barbecue Chicken: Season chicken, put in crock pot with your favorite BBQ sauce (we use Open Pit) on high for 2 hours.  I usually pair it with baked broccoli and egg noodles.
• Buffalo Chicken: same as above but with Frank's Buffalo Sauce.
• Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce ( I use my parents recipe):  The sauce consists of tomato sauce, paste, water, and seasoning.  EASY! I cook it in the crockpot on low for AT LEAST an hour.
• Pepperoni Pizza Melts : I used to make these using Pilsbury Big and Flaky Biscuits, but recently figured out a much easier, and less calorie alternative: Orowheat Sandwich thins.  We buy the multigrain ones- YUMMY!  Use 1/4 cup of pizza sauce, then a layer of about 5 slices of pepperoni, and a layer of cheese.  The recipe calls for shredded cheese but I use a slice of skim milk craft cheese which is only 25 calories.  Butter each side of the bread and make in a George Foreman, panini maker, or cook as if its a grilled cheese. 
• Buffalo Chicken Stir Fry: Heat 2 tbsp oil in skillet, cook chicken in skillet.  I cook rotini noodles while the chicken is cooking as well as whatever veggies I want to add (usually broccoli, carrots, and sugar snap peas) When chicken is done cooking add veggies and buffalo sauce.  Saute for about 5 minutes.  Finally, add noodles.  DONE, EASY, DELICIOUS!
• Grilled Cheese Chicken: Bake or grill chicken, place on a sandwich thin or the bread of your choice, add a slice of cheese, and bake like a grilled cheese.  I add some avocado or guacamole to mine after it's done cooking.
• Brown Sugar Chicken: Mix brown sugar and 1 packet of Italian dressing mix in a bowl (I also add some minced garlic).  Coat chicken with mixture, bake in oven at 350 until chicken is done.)

I linked some of the recipes.  I by no means am claiming ownership to these.

What recipes are staples in your home?  Are there any simple, low calorie meals that you enjoy? 

Comment below, I'd love to read what meals are made in your home!

Our Get-A-Way (kind of a disaster but pretty wonderful!)

A few days ago Sean and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary.  It fell on a Saturday so we headed off to Syracuse, Indiana (yeah, we had never heard of it either) to a lake resort.  We scheduled a couples massage at the spa at the resort for 12:30.  It was going to take about 2.5 hours to get to the resort and we left at 9:30.  We did not realize that Syracuse was 1 hour ahead and the gps had us arriving at 1:00, but luckily, the spa called and needed to move our appointment to 1:30.  Phew!   Crisis averted!

We arrived at the spa only to find out that our "couple's" massage was each of us getting a massage, but at different times... so weird and not at all what I think of when I think of a couple's massage.  Oh well, a massage is a massage and we both enjoyed it!  **side note: the staff was super talkative with each other and gossiped the whole time about other people who came into the spa... It made me really wonder what they'd say about us! **. After, we checked into our hotel. We unpacked, hung around, and decided to explore the hotel.  I got my camera ready to go, tried to take a picture of our beautiful view of the lake, looked at my screen and "No SD CARD" flashed back at me.  Here I was, in front of a beautiful lake, celebrating my anniversary, and no camera!  Cue almost crying!  After walking around the hotel, by the lake, and back to our room we decided to drive into town and explore the "shopping" I had read about.  The shopping.. was one arts and craft shop...that was closed.  We ended up bowling.  We were lucky enough to get the lane right next to the birthday party.  We were even luckier because the parents had just passed out the noise makers.  It was fun.  I had a high score of 70, sadly that is one of my better scores I've had.

We headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner only to find out that the we needed to make a reservation for the onsite restaurant.  Sean called and we got a reservation for about 2 hours later. 7:45 rolled around and we headed to the restaurant.  It was pretty fancy!  Fancier then what we were used to at least.  There were plenty of tables yet we were brought back to the bar.  The bar was noticeably different than the dining area. I'm talking the difference between a gorgeous dining room with a windowed wall where you can see the beautiful lake and a wood paneled, tiny, loud, bar.   We were sat at the bar where we were surrounded by waitresses getting their drinks, loud groups, and a band.  It was definitely not what I imagined when I pictured our romantic anniversary dinner.

After dinner (the food was pretty good!) we went back to our room and relaxed. After a not so great night of sleep( there was a bright light right outside our window) we headed out.  We stopped at a cafe in town where we waited for quite awhile before being served.  We then headed to Amish Acres where almost everything was closed.  On our way home (about 1 hour into our drive) I received a call that we had left our winter coats in the cabinet in our room...sigh...

When I think about our get-a-way almost nothing went the way it was supposed to.  It was nothing like I pictured in my head but to be honest, I am not disappointed at all!  While all of those things were a little less romantic and intimate then I planned, I still had an amazing time with my husband.  I am not going to remember the separate couples massage; I am going to remember laughing about the gossiping masseuses afterwards.  I am not going to remember the lack of shopping or loud birthday party; I am going to remember joking around and getting too many gutter balls to count.  I am not going to remember sitting in a noisy bar instead of the romantic dining area; I am going to remember singing along to the awesome band, people watching, and sitting nice and cozy at the bar.  I am going to remember Sean bringing me an apple after dinner because it is exactly what he did on our wedding night because I was hungry.  I am going to remember how even though nothing went right, we had so much fun together! I am so grateful to be with someone who doesn't let me stay disappointed.  I am with someone who makes the most out of any situation.  I am so fortunate to be with something who I can have SO much fun with no matter what we are doing.  This was by no means the perfect get-a-way but I can definitely say I look forward to more imperfect trips together.

p.s My posts have been slightly sappy lately... I tend to keep my relationship off Facebook but on here I guess I just open up more! I promise my posts will not be all about Sean! March just so happens to be an awesome month for us... back to regularly scheduled programming soon, with an occasional touch of sap. =)

E I G H T

Well, 2 days after celebrating 1 year of marriage, we are "celebrating" 8 amazing years of being together! We are not really celebrating as we just spent too much money going away for our anniversary (more on our get-a-way later) but it is always nice to look back on how far we have come.

8 years ago, exactly 1 week after hanging out for the first time, a shaggy haired boy walked into 3rd hour English 15 minutes late after almost passing out.  3rd hour English ended... a slightly nerdy girl waited for him to make sure he was okay.  He followed her to her locker and asked, "Will you be my girlfriend."

The rest is history..

Our First Picture (Good looking couple! haha!)

1 year

2 years

3 years

4 years

5 years

6 years

7 years (2 days after our wedding) 

8 Years

O N E Year!

1 year ago I made the best decision of my life and said, "I do" to Sean.  I am not going to get overly sappy because frankly, who wants to read that? You already know how much I adore my husband and think he is the best person in the world... so why type it out for you? =)  I am simply going to tell you a few things that I love about Sean and that make him a really awesome person...

Dear Sean,

I love that you take out the garbage for me.  Even if the bag is only half full, if I tell you I can't stand the smell, you will still throw it away (even though you hate to waste the space).

Galena-minimoon

I love that you help me clean the house.  You might not care about the dust on the side table or the crumbs on the floor but you know I do, so you clean it up anyways.

Easter- First married holiday!

I love that you love my cooking and baking.  I am by no means the worlds best cook or baker but you make me feel like I am.

Warrior Dash

I love that you keep me accountable with our budget and are making a strong effort to save us money.

St. Louis

I love that you drive everywhere because you know I'd rather not. You also let me fall asleep on almost every car ride.

Lake Sara

I love that you take care of our home inside and out.

Our first BBQ at our home

I love that you share  your interests( extremely random info, math, weird jokes, etc) with me.

My cousin's wedding

I love that you get me, and if you ever don't, you make a strong effort to understand.

6 month anniversary

I love that you chose to start this crazy adventure with me 1 year ago.  I love that you said, "I do."

Love, Alyssa

For recaps on our wedding click:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Five on Friday

O N E

Couple friends are great! I took a half day yesterday so Sean and I could get our passports.  Afterwards we headed down South to visit our good friends from college and their sweet new baby girl.  It was SO nice hanging out and catching up.  It made me really wish we lived closer! Couple friends are so difficult to find.  It's hard to find another couple that both people enjoy equally! They are definitely friends that we love hanging out with and both completely enjoy!


T W O
I am ready to see my wedding album.  I have been back and forth with different people for months now and no one can seem to tell me when it will be ready.  I hate being confrontational but now that we are celebrated our 1 year anniversary tomorrow, it would be nice to have that album.

T H R E E
I wish my actual wardrobe looked as cute as my "Dream Closet" board on Pinterest... That'd be very nice.

 






F O U R
I want to host a partay! I am having the itch to have people over! It is so difficult to find a day when people can make it but I will make it happen soon!! I have a few new appetizer ideas I want to try out!!


F I V E
Hello anniversary cake!! The place where we ordered our cake makes a brand new anniversary cake for their clients.  It was nice not to have to freeze and store the top tier.  The cake is not a replica of the top tier of our wedding cake but they incorporated our colors and we chose the same flavor.  Sean picked the cake up today and since we are fatties we ate it as soon as I got home...  Yeah, I know our anniversary is tomorrow but now we don't have to bring it with us on our mini Vaca! Plus, we obviously have no self-control.

Currently...

Loving: Warmer weather! I really hope we have a nice period of time of spring weather.  I love the clean, fresh air.  I am loving the grass slowly peeking out from under the snow.  I am loving driving with my windows down and music up.  Keep the great weather comin'!!!

Planning For:  I am a planner by nature so there is always some sort of plan forming in my head! My current plan is getting ready for our vacations! We have a small one this weekend, a trip to VA, and of course our honeymoon to Mexico!  The biggest one is Mexico and I just want to make sure everything is ready to go!

Thinking about:  With our anniversary coming up this weekend, I have been thinking about our wedding a lot.  It seems like it just happened, but it also seems like we have been married way longer than a year!  I have been listening to music from that day and looking at pictures! It was truly a great day and I would love to experience it all over again!! Its so strange to think that this time, last year, we were SO excited to be getting married in 4 days! Now here we are, almost 1 year later! It is still such a surreal feeling.

Reading/watching:  Right now I am reading an amish fiction book (my guilty pleasure), and I am rereading the Anita Blake series.  Total opposites but it is what it is.  I am on Season 4 of Vampire Diaries (netflix) and always keeping up with Grey's Anatomy!

Trying to: Get motivated to work out and eat right! Gah.  I struggle with feeling comfortable with my body (don't we all!).  I don't eat like I should and I certainly am not as active as I should be.  I need to get my butt into gear and start taking better care of myself! Not to mention I would love to look better on our trip to Mexico and it would be nice to be in better shape for both weddings I am in this summer!

Wishing: Spring break was closer.  Sean's is this week which makes me wish I was home even more! My spring break still seems so very far away (End of April) but it sure will be nice when it's over the summer is almost here!  Besides, I am lucky I even have a spring break!  Also, wishing Sean heals quickly! The poor chipmunk got his wisdom teeth out this past weekend!

Excited for: Our anniversary overnight getaway! We are headed to a lake resort where we will enjoy long walks, massages, food, wine, and some shopping! Can't wait!!!!!!!

Thankful for: My truly great hubby! This week is a week of anniversaries! St. Patrick's Day 2006 was our first "date".  I'll recap more on that in a later post! Our first wedding anniversary is on Saturday and then 2 days later is our 8 year dating anniversary.  He is a really great husband and I really am a very lucky girl!

Five on Friday

O N E

This weather is ah-maz-ing!!! Love it! Not only is it 50 (feels like 70 after this hideous winter) but it is Friday and today was quite the day so this weekend is much needed!!  I loved driving home, sun shining, windows down (at least until I started going faster than 40), coat on the seat next to me, with my music blasting (not really blasting because I have old lady ears but pretty loud).  I had all my windows open in my classroom.  The air smells fresh and clean.  I love it!

T W O

Hit and Run 5K! I literally just signed up for my second 5k.  Last year we did  the Warrior Dash, this year, Hit and Run! It is pretty much WipeOut in 5k form! Can't wait! Both my brothers, my brother's gf, my dad, and Sean will be doing it with me.  It will be a blast! I guess that means I need to get back to the gym!

T H R E E

Speaking of the gym, I want to work out.  I truly do.  I want to be healthy and in shape but I also REALLY want to come home from work and sit on my butt.  Laziness at it's finest... I know the best thing for me is to get my lazy butt off the couch and into the gym but jeesh is it hard to get motivation sometimes.  What do you do to motivate yourself to put down ice cream and get into the gym?

F O U R

I am a Carmex fanatic.  I always have 1 with me and leave a few spares around for when(yes, when because it is inevitable) I misplace one.  I tried using the tube kind but I am not a fan!!  I need to get to the store (Target was out of the stick...) so for now I am use Burt's Bees.  It's nice, it's minty, and it gets the job done better then regular chapstick but it is still not Carmex.

F I V E

Budget.  Sean and I have been living on a budget for a few months now (I voiced my opinion on this a few weeks ago). It is working great and we are saving money but we have been trying to figure out how to incorporate some spending money within the budget.  We both have things we WANT but don't NEED and are not really sure how that fits within the budget.  If you have a budget, where do you include money for some fun spending??

Catch it.

It's in the little moments, the ruined plans, the chaos that I catch it.  It's when you take a train downtown and play Farkle the whole way.  It's when you plan to go ice skating, almost chicken out, decide to still go but realize the line to rent skates is way too long.  It's being with your husband when he sees "The Bean" for the first time but having no photographic proof because it was too dark.  It's almost sneaking on stage at the pavilion but not being brave enough.  It's sitting down at an uber fancy restaurant wearing jeans and EIU t-shirts only then to sneak out because all they have is $24 duck.  It's finding a random pub and  talking and laughing while enjoying craft beer and delicious wine.  It's being offered beer that was hidden in an Iron Man backpack on the train home by a middle aged woman who thought we were on spring break.  It's coming home together.  It's those small moments that I catch it; the complete certainty that I am with an amazing person who I will be happy with for the rest of my life. I know that the man I married is truly my best friend. 

                                                              

Five on Friday Round 2

Hello friends and welcome to my day of random thoughts!


O N E

Buying a house terrifies me.  This is truly a random thought considering house hunting is not even on our radar right now.  We live in a great size apartment which we both love but a lot of young couples I know are in the process of looking to buy a house or have already bought.  I truly don't understand how it is possible!  Sean and I are both teachers so our income is not GREAT but we have enough to live comfortably.  Our rent is a reasonable price and I just can't imagine having a mortgage to worry about and all the other expenses that come with owning your own home.  Of course, I dream about our own home and what it would be like, but I am perfectly fine not owning right now.  I think we need time to figure out where we want to be and what we want/need in a home.  That being said, I am happy for my friends who are confident in their choice to buy a home! I see nothing wrong with buying a home early and while you are still young; it is just not for us right now!

T W O

I am a robe wearing napper.  I used to NEVER nap.  I  also used to be the person who wore jeans and a nice(r) shirt to class every day in college.  I am NOT that person anymore! I relish in naps on the couch.  I sometimes need that 20 minutes just to get me through the rest of the day.  Friday naps are most definitely my favorite.  I don't have to worry about not being able to fall asleep later since I don't have to wake up early Saturday!  There is also something that is so nice and relaxing about a Friday afternoon.  As for the girl who used to "get dressed" every day... yeah.. not happening.  I live in my PINK sweats and yoga pants.  Over-sized t-shirts and hoodies are my best friends!  When I get home from work, the slacks come off and the sweats come on! I look forward to changing into my "comfy" clothes!  On the other hand, dressing up to go out is also more exciting because I don't do it as often!  Now, I am NOT a lazy bum and I still take care of myself.  My hair is done every day, face washed, and mascara on.  My jeans just stay nicely folded in my dresser.

T H R E E

I love dinner with my husband.  We will occasionally eat our dinner on the couch while watching whatever show we happen to be into at the moment (just finished True Blood!) but we try and make an effort to enjoy electronic free meals together at our dinner table quite a bit as well.  I love those times.  It is amazing how easy it is to talk and focus on one another when electronics aren't around.

F O U R

We planned a mini vaca for our 1 year anniversary!  I found a groupon for a great rate at a resort on a lake in IN.  I also booked a package that included a 1 hour long couples massage.  We will be staying 1 night.  It will be very similar to our honeymoon (small town, short trip, 2 hours away, wine, massages, dinner, shopping) which is perfect! We wanted to do something besides buy each other gifts.  By our anniversary we are kind of "gifted" out.  We both celebrated our birthdays in January with Christmas not long before that.  We wanted to do something besides give gifts and we thought this getaway would be perfect! I can't wait!

F I V E

Anyone still watching Grey's Anatomy out there? I know a lot of people have given up on the show but I just can't! I know its unrealistic and corny but I can't help but love it! Pre-winter hiatus Grey's was kind of bumming me out.  I wasn't as into it but still was not giving up! Last weeks mid-season premier had me way more into it! I am hoping it keeps up! I am just not a fan of these new interns... anyone else agree???  Well, there was a new episode last night so I am off to watch that!

Hope everyone had a great week and  here's to what is sure to be a wonderful weekend!

Toodles!