One more day!

Tomorrow I finally get to see Ricky!!! He will finally be home after nearly a month.  The last couple of weeks have been super hectic.  But this last weekend I went shopping for a dress to wear Friday night.  We are celebrating our anniversary (which was March 2nd) and my birthday (which is April 5th).  So I'm really excited and he says he has all kinds of surprises for me.  Let me tell you what I know as of now....

Ricky gets in tomorrow night around 9 or 10 (they are driving a charter bus all the way from Mississippi and leaving at 6 in the morning).  Then Friday night we are going out to dinner to the Melting Pot (hence the need for a new dress) and I'm not sure what else he has planned.  Saturday we are spending most of the day with his parents and we are taking pictures.  Sunday we are going to church then dinner with the Robertson's (not sure if this is still happening but I assume so).  Then Monday I took off work and if the weather is nice we might go out for a picnic :)  He has to report back to Claremore Tuesday morning.

So I'm super excited for our weekend!  We are trying to cram as many things as possible into those short 4 days.  I didn't have time to try a new recipe this week, but I'll get back on that as soon as life slows down haha.

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli Pasta

Two recipes in one week!  I'm crazy I tell ya!  But to start off with I was STARVING while cooking so for a snack I had some of these Special K Cracker Chips.  They taste a lot like PopChips, but really aren't quite as good.  Popchips just have more of a crunch whereas these are more like a cracker.  Although I will definitely be finishing this box :)  Not tonight of course.

Tonight I made this AMAZING dish that for some reason I feel guilty for eating even though it was fairly decent for you.

What you need:

• 1 tsp. oil
• 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 clove garlic (I used garlic salt)
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1/2 tub Philadelphia Original Cooking Creme
• 1 cup pasta (your choice)
• 1 Tbsp. Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

1.  Heat oil in large skillet on medium heat.

2.  Add chicken, garlic, and vegetables; cook and stir 7 to 8 minutes or until chicken is done and vegetables are crisp-tender

3. Add cooking creme; cook 2-3 more min or until heated through, stir frequently

4.  Stir in pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Like I mentioned before, this dish was excellent!  I used spaghetti noodles simply because I had cooked them the night before and wanted to use them up.  I also put too many noodles in it, but didn't realize this until I had looked back at the recipe.  But oh well.  This tasted like fettuccine alfredo, really it did....I think that's why I feel guilty for eating it because my brain processed alfredo = bad for you!  But this is a lightened version and there are lots of variations you can use.

Variations:

• Add as many different vegetables as you want and as many as you want
• Use whole wheat pasta (much healthier for you than regular pasta)
• Use shrimp instead of chicken

So I hope you all try this, it really is phenomenal!  I would love to hear your variations or what you thought in general.  

Cilantro Lime Shrimp

I know you have all been waiting in anticipation for my first recipe!  And here it is!!  Tonight I tried Cilantro Lime Shrimp that I found online.

I cut the original recipe in half and it still made a ton of food!  Ok, so bear with  me.  I am definitely not a professional cook and really don't even know some of the basics to cooking.  So I am hoping to learn as I go, and any advice would be awesome!

What you will need:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 lb. shrimp, shelled and deveined (I used pre cooked frozed)
• 3 cloves crushed garlic
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1/2 lime
• salt and pepper to taste

I chose to serve this over brown rice with a side of steamed broccoli

1.  Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat

2.  Add oil to the pan and when it's hot add the shrimp ( I didn't thaw my shrimp very well so I had to drain the excess water out first)

3.  When the shrimp is cooked on one side, turn over and add garlic (again I messed this up and should have chopped up the garlic, instead I just let the flavor soak into the shrimp and took it out)

4.  Saute another minute or two until the shrimp is cooked, be careful not to overcook..  

5.  Remove from heat and squeez lime all over shrimp and toss with cilantro.

I cooked the brown rice and broccoli separate and then put them all on a plate together.  

Overall, I thought it was pretty good.  The shrimp had good flavor with the lime and garlic and paired with the brown rice was super filling.  Over all this meal was 8 points plus (only half of the shrimp recipe) if you follow the Weight Watchers system! It only took maybe a total time of 20 minutes for the entire meal.  Plus I have 1/2 of the shrimp to eat for tomorrow!

Another week down

Another week down until Ricky comes back home!!!  I have had a really busy week and am looking forward to Sunday when I can just sit on my couch and do nothing haha.  But before that can happen I am having a fabulous fun weekend with my girls AGAIN!

Before we get to my weekend plans, let me tell you about this amazing surprise I got this week!  Ricky called me about 3:00 Wednesday afternoon and said "I have good news." And I quickly responded, "Your deployment has been cancelled and you get to come home?!" He said, "No, but they are opening up the base and you can come down here tonight if you would like."  Well of course I wasn't going to say no to that.  So the second 5:00 hit the clock on my computer I was out of that office, didn't even go home, stopped to get gas and was on my way to Camp Gruber.  It's not too far down there, a little over an hour.  But with Tulsa 5:00 traffic and stopping in Muskogee to pick us up some dinner from Arby's I didn't get there till about 6:30.  Being on a military was strange, I've never been on one so I was just reflecting to any military type of movie I've seen and it was surreal to see some of this in real life. The hundreds of soldiers, military vehicles, barracks, and guns....lots of guns.  But I got to see where he was staying (only for another day) and witness what Camp Gruber was all about.  I only got to stay a couple of hours but it was just enough to get my fill with him.  They are headed to Mississippi today to do more training but are still scheduled to come back to Oklahoma March 24th....only 12 days left!

Now onto this weekend.  My good friend Betty finally got to move into her house (remember we went to help her paint a couple of months ago).  So we are headed to Guthrie for another girls weekend!  Who knows what kind of shenanigans we will get into :)

It's almost halfway though the month so I thought I would do a check-up on my goals, and honestly most of them aren't going quite as planned.  I was going to try a new recipe Wednesday and post it on here, but well I got to go see Ricky instead and didn't have another evening to try it.  So I'll have to do two recipes next week.  Weight loss is going good though, that's the only plus.  LEED studying hasn't even started yet...just can't get motivated.  And Project 365 is going great!  It's so fun to put a picture a day up.  It's fun to look back on what I have been doing since Ricky left.  I'll give a full update on my goals at the end of the month.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Love at first sight

Warning....this will be a sappy post.  So if you don't like to read those kinds of things, stop reading now.  :)

Today is Ricky and I's 1 year anniversary.  Exactly one year ago today I met him for the very first time.  For those of you who don't know, we met on an online dating site.  We chatted for awhile on the phone and finally decided to meet up.  So we went on our first date to Melting Pot (pretty fancy huh?!).  I remember the waitress ask us what we were celebrating and we replied with we were just on a date.  And she said "how long have you been dating?" And we were (well I was) embarrassed to say it was our first date.  HA! So it would be fun to go back (I'm trying to get Ricky to take me there again on his 4 day pass) and see if that same waitress is there.  It was instant chemistry and I just couldn't get enough of him :)  Over the last year we have done so many amazing things together.  Just to name a few of the highlights:

1.  Branson
2.  Bedlam football (and even sat by each other at the game)
3.  Hawaii
4.  Thunder game
5.  Dallas trip complete with Cowboys game
6.  OSU Homecoming (ask him, he'll say he enjoyed Walkarounds) haha

When we first started dating we kept talking about all these things we wanted to do together.  So we decided to make a list which is still currently on my phone.  We haven't complete all of the items but we will get to them eventually :)

I could list the many reasons why I love this man, but no one really wants to read those, so I'll spare all the details.  Lets just say it would take me awhile to complete it.  But I will say that I am one lucky woman.  I am so happy that I was able to find a genuine gentleman that still opens the door for me and always tells me how much he loves me.  So Happy Anniversary Ricky!  Sadly we won't be together for the actual day since he is at training nor will be probably be next year either since he will still be deployed haha.  Maybe someday we will get to celebrate on the actual day :)  But no worries, he has promised to go above and beyond on his pass in a couple weeks :)

March Goals

I seriously can't believe March is already here.  It seems like it was just Christmas!  But in the light of new beginnings and the start of new things, I decided to make some goals for myself for the month of March.

1.  Menu planning - this will go hand in hand with #2, but I want to do a blog at least once a week giving step by step instructions on a new recipe that I try.  It will also help me manage my food better

2.  Get down to 180 - here we go again with me putting my weight issues for the whole world to see.  I still have mixed feelings about it, but it helps me to be more accountable.  I started back at the gym yesterday and am looking forward to getting this weight off.

3.  Start studying for my LEED exam - I have until April 30th to take the exam, and well I haven't even started studying for this.  I told myself once Ricky left I would start, well now he's gone so I need to keep my word.

4.  Continue Project 365 - I have already started and am already on day 3! woo-hoo!  You can check out those pics ON FACEBOOK HERE.

That's all I can think of right now.  Weight loss is my main concern at the present time.  Getting into a good routine without Ricky here.  Although it will be disturbed for a few days when he comes home March 24th :)  Can't wait to see that man :) I miss him already!

In a new update!  I purchased my very first bedroom suite Saturday and am in the process of getting it all put together.  I'll update pics soon.