Meat and Potatoes

Last week it was pretty chilly here and I was feeling like making a nice warm meal! I headed off to Whole Foods to do some organic grocery shopping (I just LOVE Whole Foods!) and also brought along my PW cookbook to grab the ingredients to make two of her delicious recipes-- meatloaf and twice- baked potatoes! Both recipes are pretty simple and by the end of the meal Justin was saying it was the best meatloaf he had ever eaten (and his Mom makes a mean meatloaf, so I know it was good!)! Here are a few pictures of the meal and also the link where you can find lots of other delicious recipes from Pioneer Woman.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/category/all-pw-recipes/



Mmm mmm good!


You can NEVER have enough cheese!


PW's Cookbook which I love! It has great recipes in it along with cute stories and gorgeous pictures taken on her ranch in Oklahoma.


(my apron says "Cowgirls Rule, Horses neigh, Cowboys obey" ha)

Lately

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about eating healthier and working out. I have been to the gym 6 or 7 times in the last 2 weeks which must be a record for me! It feels good to be doing cardio and lifting some weights again. Along with that I have been reading a few books on healthier eating and cooking and alternative ways of cooking. After watching a show on Oprah (she's always getting my mind rolling...) about the new documentary Food Inc. in which they show how technological chicken, turkey and beef has become in our country. It's crazy how engineered these animals have become and it just didn't sit well in my stomach (ha). It also talked a lot about "real food" vs. "fake food"-- fake being lots of additives, dehydrated foods, etc. etc. So, I ordered some books online and I have been soaking up a lot of information about this topic... I talked with Justin and we have decided that all meat that we buy from now on will be Organic, and for beef this means grass fed cows not corn fed= healthier more natural cows = healthier meat that we'll be eating. I think for the most part the American public just doesn't have a clue where their food really comes from-- If we all made an effort to eat only Organic meats and veggies, it might become the "norm" and be less expensive as well as healthier for all. I have found some great recipes and can't wait to try them and blog about it! :) A lot of the information I have been reading has been Vegan type stuff- not that I'm going Vegan- but they do offer a lot of different ideas for soy products etc. which I am interested in too. Here is a link to the Oprah show I saw last week, if you want to check it out...

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Truth-About-Food-with-Michael-Pollan

Here are a few of the books that I am reading or are waiting to come in the mail from Amazon :)






(Yes, this is Alicia Silverstone from Clueless! She looks good, huh?!)

New recipe and such!

Finally I have a day off to relax and... blog! Yesterday I finished my finals and on average, I think I did pretty well for my first semester back to school in quite a while. My grades should be posted online within the next few days so I am just patiently waiting to see the results of my hard work!

Here's a little update on me.

Last weekend (or was it two weekends ago? Time is flying.) I was really wanting some good Christmas fettuccine. And what goes better with fettuccine then alfredo?! I have tried almost all of the bottled alfredo that you can buy next to the marinara at the grocery store, and it all SUCKS! It has this really gross fake cheese flavor that I just cannot stomach. Anyway, I went online to my favorite recipe site and found a really simple recipe. I ran to the store before dinner and picked up a few of the supplies that I didn't have in the house (I don't normally keep heavy whipping cream in the fridge). When I got home the recipe was so easy to follow and I had homemade alfredo sauce ready to go even before the water was boiling for the noodles! Justin and I both agreed that it was the best alfredo sauce we had ever eaten! (even better than Olive Garden, which in our book is pretty hard to beat haha)

Anyway, Christmas is the best time for some warm, homemade pasta! I've pasted the link below! The only thing I changed about the recipe was that I didn't use Nutmeg at all and I also added Pepper to taste as well. Enjoy!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alfredo-Sauce/Detail.aspx

I am currently reading Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I don't know if any of you watch Oprah but I recently saw a show centered around this book and it really touched me. The book is about "turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide". It is a really eye opening series of short stories and information that Nicholas and Sheryl have received through numerous organizations around the world that they work with and from journeys they have taken. It's hard to go into detail about the book since I am only on page 50, but I can already tell that this is a book I will forever think about. Here are two of the praise written about the book from people you may have heard of...

"I think it's impossible to stand by and do nothing after reading Half the Sky. It does what we need most: it bears witness to the sheer cruelty that mankind can do to mankind."
- George Clooney

" Half the Sky is a passionate and persuasive plea to all of us to rise up and say 'No more!' to the seventeenth- century abuses to girls and women in the twenty- first- century world. This is a book that will pierce your heart and arouse your conscience. - Tom Brokaw

If you can, take the time to read this book. I have only had it for two days and already are well through the first few chapters, which have been excellent.

I leave for Cali in one week exactly! I can't wait to get home and spend some time with my family and play around in my hometown for a few weeks. Justin joins me on the 22nd and we are thinking we may get a chance to head up to Lake Tahoe for the day on the 23rd. He is so excited to get to experience Northern California and I can't wait for my family to finally meet him.

Although I am SUPER excited to go home, I always get a sad feeling have to leave my Rocky for ELEVEN days :( it is so long to be without him, but Justin's Mom will watch him after Justin flies out to the west coast and I know he will have so much fun up at the lake with her and Joe!



Here's a picture of our little pilgrim and I at the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning this year-- J, Rocky and I all had a blast at the Trot and definitely plan on making it a yearly tradition!

That's all for now... back to finishing up some laundry and back to my reading Half the Sky as well :)

Happy Holidays to everyone!