Test of the Titans

So yesterday had one of the most epic show downs in college football for the 2014 season: Auburn Tigers at Mississippi State Bulldogs! It was an awesome game. Along with said game was some awesome food too! For my Saturday football showdown I prepared Nutella Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing, Pizza Pull-a-Part Bread, and Crockpot Hamburger Dip. They were so good.

Nutella CupCakes with Cream Cheese Icing:

Ingredients: 

-CupCakes (12 cupcakes): 1cup Nutella, 10Tbs Self rising flour, 2 eggs, 1-2Tbs milk

-Icing (enough icing for 24 cupcakes): 8oz cream cheese (softened), 5 1/2cups powdered sugar, 5Tbs butter (softened), 2Tbs vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all cupcake ingridents. Divide mixture into a 12 cupcake tin lined with cupcake liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Once finished remove cupcakes from tin to cool. For Icing, mix all ingridents in a bowl with a hand mixer, till smooth. If icing is too liquid add more sugar or cool in refrigerator for a few minutes. Once icing is desired consistency, frost cupcakes as desired.

Pizza Pull-a-Part Bread:

Ingridents: 2 cans pizza dough, 1/3cup EVOO, 6oz package pepperoni, 2cups shredded monzarella cheese, 1cup shredded Parmesan cheese, 2Tbs Italian Seasoning.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut up pizza dough into quarter-size chunks. Place chunks in bowl with EVOO and coat. Chop-up pepperoni and add to bowl. Add seasoning and cheeses to bowl and stir well. Pour mixture into a bunt cake pan and bake for 30 minutes. Once finished remove pan. Take a rubber spatula or butter knife and run around inside of pan, then flip bread over onto plate. Serve with marinara sauce.

Crockpot Hamburger Dip

Ingridents: 1pound ground beef, 10oz can diced tomatoes, 8oz cream cheese (softened), 2cups shredded cheese (I chopped up some Velveeta), 1/2 cup real bacon bits.

Brown beef in large skillet or medium pot and drain (I used a a pot because I'm bad at spilling things when I stir). Return meat to stove top and add in cream cheese. Once cream cheese is well incorporated add in tomatoes and other    ingridents. Once the cheeses are melted pour mixture into crockpot. Let sit in crockpot 1 1/2-2 hours on low heat. Serve with tortilla chips.

All the food was delicious, except for my cupcakes. I read the directions wrong and baked them at 400 degrees instead of 325. So they were a bit dry (a lot according to my husband), but the icing was delicious. I just dipped my cupcake in milk and that helped. But for them being dry, Dusty ate 3 of them!

Anyways, once the food was ready it was time for the big game! I'm a big Aubutn fan, as well as a Mississippi State fan. So I really had to look within and decide who I wanted to win. In the end, I went with MSU, I just have a feeling that this is their year. Not to completely turn my back on my tigers, I did wear my Auburn jersey. Dusty said I was sending mixed signals.

Once the game got going I was super happy for my Bulldogs, but I was upset for my Tigers. Mississippi came out the gates with all Pistons firing, Auburn not so much. What I was wanting was for Mississippi State to win, but for Auburn to play a great game and give them a run for their money. Auburn did improve throughout the game, but Dak Prescott and those MSU Bulldogs never looked back after that first kickoff! Coach Dan Mullen looked so proud of his team last night it was amazing. Likewise, I have never seen Coach Gus Malzahn so upset and angry looking (reminded me of Nick Saban)! There were some questionable calls during the game, but isn't there bad calls in every game? Anyways, it was a great game and I'm glad I was able to watch it. Hopefully MSU will now be #1 and Auburn will still be in the top 10 come Sunday's polls.

Well try the recipes, give me feed back , and Hail State!

-Lesli

Saturday ReCaps

Today was an amazing day of food and football. The weather outside was perfect, mid 60's, bright and sunny with a slight breeze. Just the right weather for an SEC football Saturday.

The first game of the day was Mississippi State against Texas A&M. Kickoff was at 11. I was at the local Winn-Dixie during kickoff but quickly made it home in time to catch the rest of the game. During the first quarter while the Bulldogs started wooping up on A&M, me and the hubs started preparing our football food. 

We had sausage balls, little smokies, and rotel dip. It was glorious. 

Sausage balls:

Ingridents: 1.5 lb pork sausage (hot or mild), 3 cups Bisquik, 10 oz sharp cheddar shredded, and 1/4 cup milk.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients except milk. Add the milk until you are able to shape the dough into balls. Shape balls and place on greased baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. 

Little Smokies Crockpot recipe:

Ingridents: 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce, and a package of little sausages.

 Mix all ingredients and put in crockpot. Cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours.

Rotel Dip: 

Ingridents: 1.5 blocks of Velveeta cheese, 1 can rotel tomatoes with chiles

Cube cheese and place in microwave safe bowl with lid. Drain rotel tomatoes and add to cheese (do not stir). Microwave for 4 minutes. Stir. Microwave for an additional 4 minutes and stir again. Cheese should be melted through. Serve with tortilla chips.

Once the food was prepared we were in football Heaven. My Bulldogs were winning and playing great. It was an amazing game. This team is definitely going places! Hail State!

As soon as MSU had that game in the books, we switched on over to the Alabama at Ole Miss game. This game was intense the whole time. I love close games, except when my teams play. My husband pulls for Bama, so naturally that's who I want to win. However it didn't effect me too much, so once Alabama had the lead I took a nap. I woke midway through the third quarter and was able to see my Facebook news feed slowly explode into a mixture of happy fans and angry fans, maybe even some sad fans. It was ridiculous. Anyway Bama lost, it's happened before and it will happen again. Oh well, the best game was about to start!

I quickly flipped the tv back to ESPN to watch the dual of the Tigers, Auburn vs. LSU. Auburn led the way and never looked back! While watching the first quarter Dusty and I prepared dinner. 

We had New York strip, grilled shrimp, and grilled veggies.

The steak marinade is something my husband makes up, it consists of Dale's sauce and Coke with other spices thrown in. The shrimp were rubbed with Cajun spices, Jerk seasoning and EVOO. The steak and shrimp were both prepared ahead of time, so that they could marinate for 6 hours or so. The vegetables were rinsed and cut, then tossed in some lemon and Rosemary infused olive oil (I bought this at a farmers market my cousin has during the summer) before being seasoned with garlic pepper. Afterwards everything was grilled to perfection, except the squash. It was too mushy, I think next time I either need to cube it or cut it thinner and cook it longer. You live and you learn though. 

Anyways, the Auburn game was fantastic! LSU scored once in the first quarter and then never again. It was great! War Eagle!

Next week however is where my troubles will begin. My top two teams are both undefeated, which won't last long, because they play each other next Saturday. Who should I go for, my Auburn Tigers or my Mississippi State Bulldogs? If a tie was ever possible, I wish this could be it. I hate to see either team lose, but it's bound to happen. It will be a great game either way, that is for certain. 

Well until next time,

-Lesli

Football and chicken

So yesterday was week 2 of NCAA football. The SEC dominated, again. In my house we watch three different teams. My husband is an Alabama Crimson Tide man, so we watched that game yesterday, till it got rained out...by the way I live less than 10 miles from that stadium, and all I got was a lot of thunder and no rain, but whatever. And as usual Bama won. Next we watched the Mississippi State Bulldogs. My husband is from Starkville area, and I went to college in Mississippi, so it only makes sense. Well after a close first half, MSU was able to pull away with another win over UAB. Then after a little nap, my favorite team, the Auburn Tigers played. We wooped up on some San Jose tail! So much, that I fell asleep in the fourth quarter. It was a great day of football. 

But last week was also a great week for food. I made two different chicken dishes. The first was Crock-pot Hawaiian BBQ chicken and the other was Chicken Stuffed Croissant rolls.

Crock-pot Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

The BBQ Chicken was super easy to cook, and super easy to clean...just use a crock-pot liner.

What you will need: 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 can of pineapple chunks (with juices), 1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce, and 1/2 cup BBQ sauce.

All you have to do is put the chicken in the pot and dump the remaining ingredients over it. Then set on low for 5-6 hours. Afterwards, using tongs or forks pull the chicken out and shred. Then place chicken back in pot and stir. Ta-da! All done! I served mine over rice, but this can easily be used for a sandwich. 

Chicken Stuffed Croissant Rolls

This dish took a little more effort but was easy and delicious.

Ingridents: 1-2 large chicken breast, 1 can cream of chicken, 1 cup milk, 1 can of large crescent rolls, shredded cheese, and Salt and Pepper (to taste).

To begin with, boil your chicken. In the mean time preheat your oven to 350 degrees. After boiling, drain chicken and let cool. While the chicken is cooling, make the cream of chicken soup in a separate pot using the milk. Once the soup is cooked and chicken is cool enough to handle, chop or shred it. I chopped mine, but next time I'll shred it. Next unroll the crescent rolls and separate. Place some chicken on the larger end of each roll. Then, place some cheese on the chicken, and proceed to roll-up. Once finished rolling, you want to be sure and pinch the ends of the dough together, so that the filling doesn't fall out. After you finish with each roll place it in the casserole dish. After all the rolls are placed, take the chicken soup and pour over the top of each roll. Then if you want, season the tops with salt and pepper ( I only used pepper, but I don't like salt either). Next place the dish in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes, or until top of rolls are a golden brown. Once finished serve with your favorite sides (I used vegetable medley and brown rice).

Both of these meals were pretty simple and not very time consuming. The crock-pot meal, I prepared one morning before going to sleep. That way, when I woke up to get ready for work that night, dinner was ready and my house smelt delicious. The second meal was quick, easy, and very versatile. If you wanted, you could add some vegetables into the soup mixture or just replace the chicken with vegetables or another meat. 

The main thing for both of these meals, was that I already had the ingridents. Now I'm out of chicken breasts, and beings how Winn-Dixie, had chicken thighs on sell (buy 1 get 1 free), I now have two large packages of chicken thighs. Not to mention the fact that I have never fixed chicken thighs, but hey that's what Pinterest and all my cook books are for, right? My point is, cook what you have and don't over spend on a recipe. When I lived with my parents, I would cook fancy because I didn't have to pay bills, but now that I do pay bills, I try to cook economically. Which may or may not be healthy, but I always try to have a health conscious mind when grocery shopping.

Anyways rambling over. Until we meet again!

-Lesli

Dinner and a Movie

To start off my post, I would like to wish a happy birthday to my favorite chef, Rachael Ray!!!

So for dinner tonight I finished up my pizza craze with a new recipe; buffalo chicken pizza.

It was very very easy to make. 

All you need is:

1 can Pillsbury pizza dough

2 large cans of shredded chicken breast

1/2 cup Franks hot sauce (divided)

1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt

1/2 large onion (I prefer yellow onions)

1-2 cups shredded monzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dice onion and sautee until tender. Mean while, mix yogurt and 1/4 cup of hot sauce. In a baking sheet spread out pizza dough. I put mine on some parchment paper, so that it wouldn't stick. In a separate bowl mix chicken and remaining hot sauce. Spread yogurt mix over pizza crust (I didn't use all of mine, but do what you like). Next sprinkle chicken and onions over pizza. Then layer with cheese. Bake pizza for 10-15 minutes (I did 10 minutes and thought it was fine, my husband said he liked it crispier). When done crust should be golden around edges, and cheese melted. I served my pizza with ranch dressing (Hidden Valley, of course).

The pizza was great. Now it's movie time. Obviously I pick out terrible movies, that only I enjoy, so my husband picks out the majority of our movies. Lately it has been either western or war related. 

Tonight we watched We Were Soldiers, starring Mel Gibson. It was a great movie! Funny, dramatic, emotional, and action filled! This movie made it easy to see why so many soldiers have PTSD. I mean the movie was pretty graphic at times (I'm an ICU nurse, so I've seen a lot of graphic stuff, and this movie was intense). I'm not sure if this movie won any awards, but it really deserved too.

Now we are watching Emperor, with Tommy Lee Jones and that guy who played Jack from Lost. We're only thirty minutes in, but it seems to be a pretty good movie. Hopefully I can stay awake, to watch all of it...I mean it is 10:50pm. 

That is all for right now. Leave me comments, I'll read them!

Until next time,

-Lesli

Dinner Winner

So about those food photos I promised yesterday....here they are.

First is dinner from last night. I prepared some pork chops, just seasoned and popped in a skillet. My husband fixed his wonderfully crumbly cornbread. And I finished it off with stewed squash, blacked-eyed peas, and homemade fried okra. There was also two okra balls made on accident...aka my battered okra stuck together, so I went with it.

For tonight's dinner, we had pizza. Instead of the usual Pizza Hut $32 order, or some Digorno, I made this pizza myself. The hardest part of this pizza was the sauce. I had some tomatoes left over from my parents' garden, and really needed to use them. Thank God for Pinterest. I found a simple marinara recipe and the rest is history.

Both meals were supper delicious. The first meal I paired with a Redd's Strawberry Ale and a glass of sweet tea. The latter, I paired with some Red Moscato wine, about three glasses. 

So that's my food for now. I have to go back to work the next three nights, but hopefully more pictures of my home cooking will be posted this weekend.

Until next time,

- Lesli

I have made a budget!

Hello boys and girls of all ages.

I, Lesli the blogger, have made a budget!!! Let the celebrations begin!!!

Seriously though, I have finally sat down and made out a budget. It took all of 1.5 hours. After looking at Pinterest, for a good long while, and deciphering through all the free and non-free budget print-outs; I made my own. It is nothing fancy by any means. I threw in the colors for my own benefit of sprucing it up. None the less, I hope that this spreadsheet, will help me put a name to ever dollar; that way instead of losing money, I can hopefully save some.

Unfortunately I can not figure out how to post a copy of my budget spread sheet for others to see. If you are tech savvy, or smarter than me in general, please comment so that I may know how to post a Word Document on my blog.

Anyways, that is all I have accomplished for now. I do not have to work this evening, so I'll probably cook. Hopefully if I remember I'll post some Foodie Photos for you.

Until next time,
-Lesli

Goals!

I know I start every post the same, and this time is no different.

I know it's been a while, but I am going to do better and post more often. I have a few goals in mind that I believe will help me. Those goals are as follows: become more active, build up enough endurance and stamina to complete a 5k, learn to make and stick to a budget, and become a more adept chef.

Now why these goals might sound silly, absurd, reasonable, and unachievable. I believe that by posting about my progress with each goal, that the magic of the inter-web will hold me accountable; or at least I hope so.

So to start off this journey I will catch you up on my progress thus far.

Goal #1: Become More Active

I have been trying to go to the gym more often. I also try to be active around the house, which entails doing chores inside and outside. I've also started running, which brings me to my next goal.

Goal #2: Complete a 5K

For the past week and half I have been using this "Run 5k" app on my phone. I already had the "Couch to 5k" app, but bought this one because my friends were using it. Anyways it uses interval training to help build up endurance, stamina, and strength. This way at the end of eight weeks you should theoretically be able to complete a 5k without stopping. So far I've been running/jogging/walking just over 1.5 miles each time. But hey I'm only on week two.

Goal #3: Make and Stick to a Budget

After buying a house, new furniture, and now a new vehicle, it is time I make a budget. I've always been pretty good with money...when I didn't have to pay the bills. But since that ship sailed 2 years ago, the husband and I have acquired some debt. Now it's time to get rid of that debt. My plan is the "snow ball effect". Pay off the smallest debt first, then take its payment and combine it with the next smallest debt, and so on and so forth. Sounds easy enough. But lately I can't find any extra money to get stuff paid off any faster. That is where the budget will come in to play. 

Goal #4: Become an Adept Chef

So evidently I like to cook. I at least like to take pictures of my food and post it to Facebook. So now all my friends think I can cook. I am being asked more and more frequently if I cook every night and if I love to cook. And while I do love cooking, I do not cook every night. I would love to be an amazing cook though. Cooking is therapeutic for me. And if it's just me and the dogs home while I'm cooking, I tend to talk out loud and pretend I'm on a cooking show. Yeah I'm crazy! Cooking and preparing meals is calming and let's the mind be creative. I have made meals up before, but generally I like to follow recipes. That's why the majority of my 65+ Pinterest boards pertain to food. So be prepared for food pictures, recipes, or links to recipes.

So let's start this journey together. And while I may not post everyday, I do hope to post at least once a week with a progress update on me and my goals.

Until next time,

-Lesli

Keep on keeping on.

Kidd So today has been a lazy one.

I didn't work out or even go to work. Instead I woke up and went out to eat a delicious breakfast with my husband at Cracker Barrel, evidently there was an old folks convention in town. While there I tried their raspberry lemonade for the first time, and oh my word! That stuff is the most delicious lemonade I have every drank. Perfect balance of sweet and tart. In other words I drank three of them...no shame.

Then the hubs and I bought him a new pair of work boots, and priced some new computer and office equipment. Hopefully after paying off our living room furniture, we can redo our non-existent home office. Right now the office is a catch-all / junk room. From their we stopped by AutoZone then came on home. Dusty fixed my truck wheel; where some ring thing and cap had came loose inside the hub cap. So thankful for him, because while I can trouble shoot just about anything, I am not as mechanically inclined as Dusty.

While he worked on my truck, I cleaned the kitchen. But the weather was so nice today, therefore I opened up some blinds and even a few windows. I was able to clean the kitchen, empty, clean, and put away our fish tank ( don't worry the fish had died a while back, and those that survived I gave to my sister) and I set up my little herb garden that my mother bought me.

After spending all that time on my feet, I finally sat down to watch some television with Dusty / look at Pinterest. And wouldn't  you know the inevitable happens...I fall asleep. It's just like college, I have to have my midday nap, and working night shift doesn't help matters. 

Finally I wake up and my husband is getting ready to do some security device installs in Jasper. Why people want things installed at 6pm, I will never know. Dusty still isn't back and it's almost 11p; granted Jasper is about an hour and a half away. Whichever, at least I'm at home.

Like I was saying earlier, I've been completely lazy. I've either sat on the love seat and watched documentaries about the Great Barrier Reef (for my inner marine biologist) or I've been reading my new book. 

Awesome book, by the way. Kevin Sorbo will always be Hercules to me, no matter what roles he plays. On my future list of things to do is go and see his current movie God's Not Dead. I've watched the trailers and boy does it look good. Plus according to my Facebook account, it's a must see.

And besides that I've done nothing, and am continuing in this trend. Plus I hear Dusty's truck pulling up. So good night y'all.

Until next time,

- Lesli

I'm a loser baby

So yeah I'm definitely a loser. My sister said she and my brother-in-law were going to do the Insanity workout, so my husband and I have yet to do it. However for the past few weeks, I have been going to the gym. It's called Fitness One. It's affiliated with a branch of the hospital I work for.  Anywho, some friends from work started attending, they invited me, I went a few complimentary times, and then joined up. Now I'm in the process of getting my husband to join. He doesn't want to do the group classes that I like, but he does like the sauna steam room, and weight lifting. 

The group classes are my favorite. The aerobic classes they offer are by Les Mills. The ones I attend are BodyPump, CXWorX, and RPM. If I'm not working I also like to go to yoga and total body conditioning. The instructors are awesome, plus I graduated high school with one of them. 

Even though I have only been doing the classes for a few weeks, I feel SO much better. I WANT to workout and WANT to go exercise. On days when I'm off work, I try and either go to the arboretum to walk my dog, or I just walk him around the neighborhood. Each time we do at least a mile, depending on our route. 

Plus I'm eating healthier, counting my calories, and I'm fasting sodas for Lent. So that with the active lifestyle is making for a healthier more energized me.

So before I started getting into the working out hardcore, I weighed myself. 198.8 pounds. My jaw dropped when I saw that number. I had gained 10 pounds since October. Pretty sure that was my turning point. At my heaviest I weighed 220 pounds, that was halfway through my senior year of college. So when I lost 32 pounds over the last year I was pretty excited. But when my weight started creeping back up, I knew something had to change.

By the way going to the gym alone and doing your own thing is great, more power to you. But going with folks, like coworkers, and going to classes, makes it so much more fun. Plus your friends provide a great support system. Even when my friends and I can't go on the same days, we still talk about our workouts and the progress that we are making. 

So yeah, I'm definitely a loser. I lose fat, lose calories, and tons and tons of sweat.

Until next time,

-Lesli

The hiatus is over!

Its been long enough! The holidays are over and I'm tired of feeling fat again.

So starting Sunday, the hubs and I will be doing the Insanity 60 day challenge. It will be my second time and his first. I tried to warn him about what's in store, but he was like whatever. Yeah, we will see about that after the Fit Test. 

In the mean time I've got to get all the sweets out of my house. At the moment there are two pieces of cake in the kitchen, and a almost full tub of ice cream in the freezer, not to mention Oreos in the cookie jar. And a couple of packs of sodas in the fridge.

This time around I'm going to try and stick to the meal plan better. It proved very beneficial for my sister when she and I did the challenge last May and June. 

Now, I did gain some weight over the food indulgent holidays, but only a few pounds; 4 to be exact. Back last Summer, when I completed the workout, I lost a total of 20 pounds. If I can at least lose that much again, then I will be almost to my goal weight of 160-165. 

Well I better enjoy my self indulgence while it lasts. My dad's birthday is tomorrow and my nanny's is Sunday. The party is tomorrow night and your's truely is in charge of the cake. I'm making a coconut cake, my dad's favorite! I try to use as much low fat ingridients as possible though.

I'll do my best to keep y'all updated. It's going to be hard, because my sister has better Will power than my husband, but hopefully I can stop making excuses and just do it! 

Until next time,

- Lesli