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Day 2: Your Favorite Delicious Christmas Dessert–With Recipe!

Every year for Christmas, we make an assortment of cookies, fudges, candy, etc. It is a tradition that we do as a family, everyone gets involved and usually ends up covered in flour :). We keep some, some goes to work with Bryan and we take a basket of goodies to the SF’s (Air Force police) working the gate after Christmas Eve service. Normally  my fav would be the white chocolate cranberry fudge, but last year I tried a new recipe…butter toffee with sea salt topping. Oh my gracious….absolutely divine! The perfect mix of rich, sweet, salty, crunchy…yum.

I originally found the recipe on Pioneer Woman’s blog here.

Recipe: Lia’s Butter Toffee

Prep Time: 10 Minutes |  Cook Time: 30 Minutes |  Difficulty: Intermediate |  Servings: 18

Ingredients

• 16 ounces, weight Butter, Melted
• 16 ounces, weight Granulated Sugar
• 3 ounces, fluid Water
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 16 ounces, weight Chopped Topping: Toasted Nuts, Candy Canes, Sea Salt, Etc.
• 24 ounces, weight Tempered Dark Chocolate For Coating, Melted

Preparation Instructions

Once upon a time, this was a pretty popular section on my blog. I have since become a serious slacker. I still menu plan twice each month, but I don’t take the time to post about it anymore. I can’t promise that I’ll stay consistent with posting our menus each month, but here’s a start :).

I do not claim credit for any of the attached recipes. The author/blog will be noted on the pdf if I know where it came from.

Let me know if you try any of them and like them!

Main Meals

• steak & roasted veggies (baby new potatoes, carrots, asparagus, onions & garlic)

• out (Jacey’s evening flight back to Vegas)

• angel chicken & roasted green beans

• crunchy Parmesan tenders, roasted broccoli & cauliflower

• homemade corn dogs & zucchini fries

• white chicken chili, cherry margaritas

• migas & black beans

• brats on the grill, baked beans & macaroni salad

• mushroom Swiss burgers & grilled zucchini

• Swedish meatballs, mashed red potatoes, peas & lingonberry jam

• creamy chicken taquitos, refried beans & grilled corn, tomato, avocado salad with honey lime dressing

• Asian short ribs & garlic broccoli

• out (pool party)

• Cajun shrimp boil

Extras

• peach ice cream

• red velvet pancakes with cream cheese glaze

I try to make a new recipe at least every couple of weeks when Bryan is home. Yes, “when Bryan is home”, you caught that, huh? I don’t cook much when it is just Jacey and I. I never have gotten that making food for 1 down very well (she doesn’t eat much and I can’t eat much). Anyway, I digress. I made this last night and it was a HUGE hit with all 3 of us.

Creamed Chicken with Gnocchi

1 pound potato gnocchi
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, roughly chopped and then minced in a food processor
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped and then minced in a food processor
4 cups fresh baby spinach
12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup fat free half-and-half
1 cup chicken broth
Pam cooking spray, butter flavor

Cook gnocchi according to package directions, drain and set aside.

Saute spinach in a large skillet with a spray of Pam until tender. Squeeze out excess liquid and set aside.

In the same skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper, cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through, about 5-6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In a small saucepan, melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 3-4 minutes. Whisk in half-and-half and chicken broth, bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until thickened. Whisk into chicken mixture, then add spinach and gnocchi. Bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

About 6, 3/4-1 cup servings at about 300 calories per serving.

Inspired by Rachael Ray.

Well, thanks to Amy I now think I have a new favorite soup. That is saying a LOT since this girl normally doesn’t like soup. It even got rave reviews from Jacey and had Bryan drooling from almost 800 miles away. Luckily for him, I took half the batch and froze it for when he comes home. I altered it just a slight bit, so my version is below. Click on Amy’s blog to see her version.

Creamy Black Bean Soup

1/2 large sweet yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 tbs olive oil
3 can black beans, drained and rinsed (I use Bush’s Reduced Sodium version)
4 cups chicken broth
1 can Rotel (I used the Mexican version with lime and cilantro)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil over medium heat for 4-6 minutes until tender. Add beans, broth, Rotel, chili powder and cumin. Cover and bring to boil. Remove lid and reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Puree with hand blender (or regular blender).

We topped ours with avocado, colby-jack cheese and sour cream with chips on the side, but the possibilities are endless. I think you could take this same recipe, decrease the chicken broth and add corn after pureeing and have a really good dip. Hmm…

I’ve been trying to actually *feed* Bryan the last few days, before he has to go suffer through 70 days of chow hall. I have never made a brisket before, but decided to attempt one. Bryan is after all, the VERY carnivorous one of the household.

I grew up on delicious, fall apart, smoked Texas briskets. This was not a true Texas brisket, a. because we do not have a smoker and b. because although I love Bryan immensely, I am NOT willing to brave the frigid temps outside. So, it was cooked in the oven. No less, for my very first brisket everyone in the house declared it a huge success. Jacey even had 2 helpings (and neither she nor I are big meat eaters).

Brisket – Lacey’s Way

The Meat
6 lbs beef brisket (with a 1/4-1/2 inch fat pad)

Dry Rub
4 Tbsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ancho chile powder
16 grinds of pepper (I *think about 1/2-1 tsp or so)

Wet Marinade (braising liquid)
12 oz Coke
1/2 bottle Jack Daniels Original No. 7 Barbecue Sauce

Instructions
Mix together dry rub ingredients in a bowl. Liberally apply to all sides of brisket. Be sure to rub it in good, so the flavors permeate. Place fat side up in a glass or metal baking dish with at least 2 inch high sides. Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate overnight (12+ hours is better but I only did about 10).

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Pull brisket out and place on the counter for at least 30 minutes, so the meat can start coming to room temperature. Mix together wet ingredients and pour over the brisket. Allow the liquid to fill the dish about halfway up the meat. Cover tightly with foil and place in the oven. Cook for about 5-7 hours (about 45 min – 1 hour per pound). When cooking time is coming to a close, open up the foil and check the meat right under the fat pad. If it shreds easily, it is done, if not recover and bake a bit longer.

Once done, pull out of the over and let rest 15 minutes. Remove the meat from the dish and place on a cutting board. Use a serrated knife to remove the fat pad. It should remove fairly effortlessly. Shred to make pulled beef brisket or slice perpendicular to the grain for sliced beef brisket. Can be served with the braising liquid or the remaining bottle of bbq sauce.

Storage tips – Slice/shred all the remaining meat and place in a dish. Strain the braising liquid and then chill so you can remove the layer of fat. Pour into the dish with the meat, cover tightly and refrigerate/freeze. I am not sure how long you can freeze it, but Google should be good for that :).

Recipe, my own. Inspiration, Pioneer Woman.

Can you believe it is already October?! Heck, it is not even the first, it is already the third…sigh. 26 more days till till I become an old lady…blech. 26 more days to get these last 12 pounds off to hit my final goal…not likely to happen. I haven’t missed a progress goal yet, but I really don’t see me making this one. I have no one to blame but myself for  derailing my success these last few month.

Anyway…

I did manage to get my October menu planning done, I just need to make the grocery list now. We really need to stick to the plan this month, as I got a very rude awakening yesterday when looking at “where our money goes” in quicken. We have spent right at $1K a month for the last three months on groceries and eating out. Especially appalling when you look at the fact that I eat less than Jacey, so we initially feed 2 people around here right now. Our greatest culprit is laziness though. We get home, don’t feel like cooking so we go out. In turn all the food that we bought ends up spoiling. Expensive and wasteful.

So, here is the plan…anyone out there willing to hold me accountable via twitter or facebook? Pop in every once in a while and call me out if I am not “cooking”?

October Menu (days that don’t have sides listed are just random veggies)

1. leftovers

2. teriyaki chicken, refried black beans, sweet potatoes

3. chicken noodle soup, cornbread, honey bars

4. 20 clove chicken, roasted veggies

5. leftovers

6. frito pie

7. dinner at church or out

8. broccoli cheddar quiche

9. taco soup, Mexican cornbread

10. hot dogs on the fire pit, potato salad, s’mores

11. church picnic – Greek tuna pasta salad, Heath cheesecake

12. leftovers

13. Pensacola – grilled cheese, tomato soup

14. dinner at church or out

15. pesto chicken, asparagus

16. curry chicken pot pie

17. breakfast – cheesy eggs, sausage, pancakes

18. grilled chicken salad, cranberry-pineapple minis

19. leftovers

20. spinach mushroom quiche

21. dinner at church or out

22. meatball subs, pea salad

23. camping – no clue yet

24. camping – no clue yet

25. spaghetti and meatballs, spinach pear salad

26. leftovers

27. crab salad tostada, black bean salad, Spanish rice

28. dinner at church or out

29. My Birthday – out to Melting Pot

30. firecracker enchilada casserole, black bean salad, Spanish rice

31. Halloween – frozen pizza

Nov 1. chopped steak, Italian marinated veggie salad

Thirteen random thoughts on my mind today.

1. I am learning recently that I am not superwoman as much as I want to be. There are some things that I have to let go of to maintain my sanity and a life.

2. Since the children’s building is almost finished at work, I am getting ready for the move to my new office. I had two to choose from, so I went up and chose this week. Bryan measured it for me and then I proceeded to go furniture shopping. What an ordeal. I found this first set which I fell in love with. Priced it online and then went to go order it from our contract sales website for that company. Total price was almost $1000 more than the regular website. Huh? What gives there. I left a message with our contract sales rep in hopes that they could get me a better deal but no call back, so I went shopping some more.

I found this second set at one of the other places we shop at and truly think it will work better. The first set still has my heart for finish and design but this set is more functional. This set was also more on our contract site versus the regular site but only by right under $100. I don’t understand why business customers get higher prices yet, we are bringing them business on a regular basis and typically in bulk. So, now I wait on our sales rep to get back with me and get these pieces ordered next week when I am back in the office.

The office is a rectangle but has a window, so my current paint color, jadesheen will be way too bright. So, I am going with this color, asparagus. I also plan to use chalkboard paint to make a rectangle over the credenza unit and then either find a vintage frame to finish it or some molding. Not sure what else yet. I get to move in the week of the 17th and can’t wait!

3. I noticed this morning, that I am no longer losing hair. YAY! About time.

4. On the other hand, my hormones are out of whack again. I thought the weight loss had helped the PCOS issues but they are back. Skin is breaking out like crazy, I feel like I am 14 again and that monthly womanly thing is nuts again after 8 months of regularity. I really need to get in to see my doc, but who has time?!

5. Speaking of the children’s building, Jacey gets to be one of the ribbon cutters at the grand opening on the 22nd. How cool is that! Our senior pastor will be holding the ribbon and Jacey and our junior pastor’s older son will be cutting it.

6. I finally updated the pics/video on the webpage if you’d like to take a peek. One of these days, I’ll get an update email sent out as well (I’d advise you not to hold your breath on that one:).

7. The word cancer is evoking some not so nice feelings from me these past few weeks. I am SO tired of being SO tired.

8. I finally found J’s school supply list on the school’s website, so we can start tackling that. Haven’t heard from the school yet about teacher/open house although I would think that should be any day now. Only 2 more weeks and a few days till school starts. Gee, I can’t believe I have a second grader now!

9. I am debating on taking a class at church with semester on Wednesday evenings while J is in H20. My friend Steph is teaching a class called “One Month to Live” which sounds really interesting but I am REALLY bad about sticking with classes. Adult onset ADD perhaps?!

10. Tomorrow is a squadron bowling event that I agreed to participate in. Wish me luck, this is the first “military” event I have done in a while. I normally stay pretty far away because there is typically a lot of drama that tends to ensue.

11. Made this for dinner tonight and it was delish…or should I say yummo, since it is a Rachael Ray recipe :).

12. Instead of doing what I should have been doing earlier, I played around again. Perhaps this is why I don’t get as much done as I should?!

Before

After
Totally Rad Actions: Oh Snap! @ 100%, Rusty Cage @ 100%, Claire-ify @ 80% and Yin/Yang as needed

13. I have only been working on this blog post, off and on since 6:30am…it is time for me to go to bed.

Does anyone else out there hate making a grocery list as much as I do?! Food holds no interest for me anymore (except sweets, they are the devil) so it’s no fun. Plus, I am Anal Annie when it comes to it, so I think I have made it a chore.

I’ve been working on the list for 3 days now and have 2 items on the actual list. But, I did get the menu made…aren’t you proud of me…LOL!

Wanna see?!

1. coconut shrimp
2. frito pie
3. rattlesnake pasta
4. meatball subs
5. church or out
6. Greek tuna pasta salad
7. French onion soup
8. zucchini lasagna
9. curry chicken pot pie
10. baked white fish
11. spaghetti + meatballs
12. church or out
13. pesto chicken
14. Tuscan chicken

Random Sides

1. roasted green beans
2. baked sweet potato fries
3. cucumber dill salad

I don’t usually “plan” sides unless they are special requests from the family. I usually just keep an assortment of fresh, frozen and canned veggies on hand and whatever we want, we eat. I also don’t go in order, whatever has the most fresh veggies in it gets cooked first and from there, it is whatever sounds good. There is usually 1-2 leftover days in there too that pushes me past the “pay day” commissary rush.

If there is any interest, I will post my menus each time I make one…I just never have before because they don’t semm all that exciting to me…LOL!

Much randomness ahead.

Friday after dropping Jacey off at school, I went for a training run and let me tell you, it kicked my butt. I ran hills in 84% humidity…sigh. I had to do it though, to prepare for the upcoming Gate to Gate, since there is a hill right before the finish line. There were many times I wanted to stop and walk, but I pressed on. Managed to keep my splits fairly close to the norm as well!

[iframe http://www.runkeeper.com/pub/act/Rihizr2DrovNqd1tf8Ja/map 425 345]

Afterward, I had to tackle yet ANOTHER huge pile of pollen that the rain decided to knock off the trees after I cleaned it all up last weekend. There’s another bunch out there that the rain knocked off today, but that is just going to have to wait on Bryan to get home. I am over it. I got cleaned up, took a nap and then picked up J from school. She got her homework done and we decided to check out the Destin YMCA pool. We get free membership there, because of our Niceville membership and they have an outdoor pool versus our tiny indoor pool. It’s a pretty neat place and Jacey had a lot of fun.

Saturday, we decided to just chill at home. I tackled a few cleaning projects and Jacey watched TV most of the day. She did help me go through her room and ended up with a huge bag of books to donate to her school’s used book sale coming up. Talked to Bryan on skype a few times, took a nap, heated up leftovers for dinner…nothing special really, just a low key day at home.

Today on the otherhand was crazy. After breakfast, he headed out. I needed to find a dress for a wedding coming up Friday and we needed two new hoses since both of them have managed to break since Bryan’s been gone (why does everything have to break when he’s not home?) and the lugging one around to water in the front and back is getting old. So, first stop the BX. :ucky for me, they were having a clearance sale and I actually managed to snag TWO dresses. Yes, I only set out for one but it is a rare day when I actually find something in the BX, much less something I love. The first dress will be for the wedding and then second well, it just made me feel sexy.

(Ignore the horrible pic quality…ignore the shaggy hair too, cut and highlights on Friday can’t come soon enough)

Then it was off to find shoes. Since losing weight, none of my shoes fit anymore, I have gone down half a size and no longer need wide widths. I actually managed to find some I fell in love with at the BX (are pigs flying yet?!). I rarely ever wear heels, but I actually like to feel girly now that I am no longer the size of a small cow. I also needed to get some new shampoo and was apalled to find out that they no longer carry my Bedhead products. What?! They didn’t check with me first…sigh. We walked next door, picked up 2 hoses and headed out.

Next stop was the Emerald Coast Science Center. It’s not all that impressive to me, but Jacey has fun and it was “Plew” day so we got in for a whole $3. Not too bad for an hours worth of entertainment for her. From there, we headed to Sandestin for a late lunch, Jacey picked IHOP where I ate probably way too many calories. Ah well, we have to splurge once in a while. Then it was to the Nike Outlet where I needed to find a bathing suit. I plan to start adding at least one day a week of swimming laps into my workout plan but my current suit is not made for “swimming” unless I want to be digging out wedgies every lap. Found a suit and some new goggles…the  sales clerk also noticed my military ID and added on a military discount I didn’t even know existed. Love it when they do that!

By this point, Jacey was a bit over the shopping, so she requested Marble Slab (see, it WAS splurge day…LOL). From there, one more stop at Old Navy where I got a black cami to wear under dress #2 so I can wear it to work, black flip flops so it can be casual too, J a new pair of “my favorite color in the whole world” flip flops and $5 flag tees for all 3 of us.

Then it was back home…FINALLY!

And who said the economy was suffering….LOL!

Talked with Bry for a while on Skype and made the menu. Nothing outstanding, but it is food…LOL.

• grilled cheese & tomato soup
• pasta & meatballs
• fish sticks
• sausage
• broccoli & cheese potatoes
• shrimp & grits
• taco soup
• meatball subs
• grilled shrimp & Cuban corn
• parm burgers
• chicken with 20 garlic cloves
• pesto chicken

The two that are linked are new recipes to try. I only “plan” for the main course and as for sides, I always keep frozen veggies, romaine and spinach salad fixings on hand and then pick up whatever fresh veggies look good at the time. Tomorrow I get to make the grocery list…ugh.

Now, it is off to bed…I am exhausted!

• Last week, I was on a cooking kick (and unfortunately the scale shows it). I used to cook all the time, but since going back to work I am usually too tired to REALLY do anything creative in the kitchen. Still not sure what got into me last week. I made low(er) fat caramel pie and cherry dark chocolate oatmeal cookies. Both were fabulous, but I was fairly good…LOL! I had one serving of each and then sent the rest to my rental husband and with Bryan to work.

• Well, the rain around here appears to have finally stopped for a bit. I am used to afternoon showers in the summer, when the sun is still shining. This though, was absolutely dreary and miserable. Today was gorgeous, I truly wished I could have moved my desk outside. It is getting chilly with a cold front coming through, but so long as it stays dry, I won’t complain :).

• Saturday, we headed to Lafayette, Louisiana to meet my mom and get Jacey back. Jacey was there for spring break and boy, it sure was quiet around here. Bryan and I would just often look at each other like we were a bit lost…LOL! The break was good though for all of us and now it is back to “real” life.

• Friday night, Bryan took me to see Fast & Furious. Yes, I am a racing, fast cars, Vin Diesel junkie. I didn’t really care for F&F 2 or 3 because there was no Vin. The movie was excellent and you could definitely tell it was a hit, the theater was PACKED.

• Has anyone played Guitar Hero Metallica yet? It came out last month and I have been eye-balling it. We were going to rent it but Blockbuster didn’t have it and we haven’t gone back. The Aerosmith version didn’t get very good reviews, so I’d like to hear reviews/play the Metallica version before dropping $50 on it.

• I am so stoked, I won one of my recent Nike+ challenges…even after taking a little over a week off for my gall bladder removal. Usually these challenges are just for bragging rights, but this one was for a Vera Bradley tote…woohoo!

• Last week, I had a kidney ct scan to follow up on my *assumed* kidney stone. I still don’t have the results back from that ct scan, but I definitely now know it was a stone…oy. When Bryan passed his back in January, it looked like a spec of pepper. I was amazed that something so small could hurt so bad. Well, mine was probably about 10-15 times the size of his…no wonder why I was writhing on the floor for 4 hours in pain.

• I have always wanted to learn how to bead, but never had the time nor knew where to begin. Well, we are required to wear our name tags at work now and I hate the clip on style. A few of the ladies that I work with have beaded lanyards  that I love, so my friend Belinda helped me pick out the beads and taught me how to do it. I can deifnitely see the attraction and think that beading could very easily become a new addiction for me.

• Did anyone watch the ACM’s last night? I was so thrilled to see Carrie win Entertainer of the Year. Don’t get me wrong, I love Kenny Chesney but I just really wanted to see someone else get a chance. Did anyone else think Toby Keith looked horrible? He looked all swollen and almost like he was grimacing at every move. What about Trace’s song with the West Point Glee Club?! Absolutely outstanding!

• So, my husband is the bestest! We have been *talking* about different vehicles for a while now. While my trailblazer was only 3.5 years old, it was beginning to show wear and had several nit picky little problems that the defunct Chevy dealership here would not admit existed. I didn’t truly think we would get me a new one till closer to my 30th birthday in October though. Monday, we drove past the Ford dealership and I pointed out an Escape that I thought looked nice. What does he do, but pull in. We breezed through the lot, looking at the Escapes, Edges and Mustangs. It was pouring down rain, so we didn’t really stop but continued on to dinner. All through dinner, we were talking about the pro’s and cons, being upside down on the trailblazer and other things. He was really for getting a new one and me, the CFO was not too sure. The next two days though, I really thought hard about it and on Wednesday decided to apply for a loan. Got the preapproval and started internet shopping. Found 2 Escapes that I wanted to test drive, so we made an appointment to do it Thursday afternoon. I still had it in my head that it wasn’t going to be feasilble, blah, blah, blah. Instead, we both fell in love with it and Bryan said do it. So, I am now the proud owner of a 2009 Ford Escape XLT. It has the one thing I have ALWAYS wanted on a vehicle, a moonroof and many other things I never knew I wanted…LOL! I always said I wasn’t going to take the new car hit again, but the deal they cut us just couldn’t be passed up. And who would have thunk it, my insurance on the new SUV is less than the insurance on my old SUV?!