Quinoa Cristed Quiche, Pumpkins & Puppers

Happy Sunday! Thank you all for your sweet comments and being so awesome and supportive of my MIA-ness.  Operation Catch Up is coming along well, I feel like i'll be almost there come Tuesday. Well, that's my goal anyway! Before backing up to this weekend I must share a new recipe we're loving: Quinoa Crusted Quiche. 

Quinoa Crusted Quiche
Inspired by a Lynn's Kitchen Adventures recipe
Makes 6 Servings

Nutritional Information: 405 calories, 32 carbs, 18 fat grams and 28 protein grams.

I loved it. Austin said, "it's good, but it's weird to eat quinoa for breakfast." hehe I personally like a grain at breakfast time, it kind of reminded me of the breakfast risotto. Anyway, I thought the spicy sausage added a lot of flavor, and as usual the Cabot cheese melted well and tasted great without adding too many calories and fat grams. All in all, i'd make it again, but maybe next time in a rectangular dish so it would be easier to eat then the deep oval dish!

One serving!

Check out the recipe on Healthified Kitchen!

So Friday was spent sleeping in through my workout, working, out to lunch with Stacy (yes, skipping my second opportunity for working out!) before heading home to pack up the car for Auburn, get the pups ready and work a bit more before going to sleep - long day! Saturday we got up early and headed to Auburn for Teresa's 30th Birthday party! Have the cutest pics to share once I sort through them, but for now I have some pics from a Trader Joe's stop. Wine for Teresa, pumpkins for us: 

Ausitn and our soon-to-be masterpieces I'm SURE

Those things are heavier than they look! haha

After our TJ's stop we rode down to Auburn - here's some pics of our safe puppers.

Remy gets super cozy despite her seatbelt, and seriously sleeps the whole way. The flash popping up woke her up from her slumber!

Reuben on the other hand does. not. relax... at least not for the first hour. I caught this pic of his sad little face- poor baby - but at least he was safe!

We made it to Auburn around 1:30, helped set up for the party, scarfed down some Subway (veggie sammy on wheat for me - have been CRAVING banana peppers lately), cooked, got ready, then it was party time. Cute pics coming later, but good to see everyone, catch up with Teresa's AU friends, and visit with Jimmy & Mary (even though they were sick - boo!) and Mary & Scott (first time seeing them since Scott proposed!). We didn't stay up too late, and slept great, so today was just Starbucks and driving straight home in rainy weather to spend the day getting ready for the week. Lame - but required - so what are you going to do?!

Q: Ever had quinoa for breakfast? I loved it!

Q: Have you picked up pumpkins this year? If so, are you carving? I think  Austin is carving but I have a paint idea in mind! 

Let There Be Tomatoes.... and Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls

This weekend we ate these...

Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls
Makes 4 Servings
Adapted from Sweet & Savory

Nutritional Information (per serving/3 wraps): 436 calories, 2 fat grams 56 carbs and 36 protein grams.

Awesome. I loved that you got three wraps for one serving - lots of bang for your calorie count. The cream cheese/ranch mix added a great kick, and the buffalo chicken really was awesome - that parm/frank's paste gives it a  lot of flavor, which helped balance the plain, crunchy shell.The recipe is up at Healthified Kitchen!

Meanwhile, Reuben ate these... the new tomatoes (that I now think were apples I mistakenly labeled tomatoes)...

Love his little paw paws on it!

My favorite 

I think Martha would approve

And speaking of tomatoes... Austin's are out of control. In a good way. We think. 

He ended up buying these green stake thingies (official term). The wire tornado thingies were no longer cutting it.

Little action shot there (Austin was watering)

This was pretty much our Monday in a nutshell: haircuts for the pup, water for the plants, cooking for me, xBox for Austin and a lovely, relaxing day with only two fails: (1) the pup photo shoot - the weather did not permit this. It began raining shortly after the tomato photo shoot. (2) seeing fireworks/going to the pool/etc. - again, the rain did not agree with our plans. We still had a lovely 4th though and the pups were too tired from their grooming appointments to freak out when the fireworks (and thunder) boomed. Score!

Q: Do you have a favorite non-traditional egg roll? This one was my first one - I usually just put, you know, egg roll stuff in there. Now I feel like the possibilities are endless!

Q: How big can tomato plants get? Like for real. Should we be worried they're going to take over our house like kudzu? :)

Color-Changing Pups, Two-A-Days

Happy Sunday! I hope you're having a great day! I'm relaxing at home after getting back in town from Alabama - am having a great weekend! Tracking back, Friday ended up being a pretty good day. Awesome? No - but not too shabby. I got up early with a massive headache. Ugh. But I went to the gym and met Stacy there! I walked 1/4 mile, ran 2 miles at 6.3 mph, then walked 1/2 mile - 2.75 miles in 30 minutes. Not bad! Then I showered, worked, then me and Stacy went back during lunch for a 1 1/4 mile walk (taking me to 4 miles for the day - 2 walking and 2 running) and shoulders, triceps and biceps. Great workout and nice to be done with exercise by 1 p.m.! Then I just worked more, had meetings, and headed straight home at 5 p.m. to the family! I made a new recipe, ran a load of laundry, hung out with Austin and played with the pups. And thankfully my headache escaped me - yessss.

Speaking of puppers, I've been marveling lately at how much they've changed colors. Reuben was a major color changer. I got a brown pup, and ended up with a black and gray one...

Reuben 16 weeks old - day 2 of having him in September 2007

I mean really! LOL Little posing poodle

Reuben over the holidays!

Then came Remy - a little brown & white pup:

her at 10 weeks

her at 16 weeks - much lighter and her brown turned more of a caramel color

her in April. Seriously - she is turning so white!

Regardless, I love my two little color changers! Even if I did go from two mostly-brown pups to ebony & ivory! :) (May 2011)

Q: Do you have a color-changer?

Q: What are you up to this weekend? We stayed in Friday night, went to Birmingham for a wedding Saturday and just got back in town today! I'll post pics from the wedding tomorrow - great time with great friends!

Book Review, New Recipe, New Tips & How-Tos Section

Good Morning! I hope you're all having good days so far - I'm feeling a little sick (allergies/sinus) but i'm trying to power through it! Backing up... Saturday I finished Karin Alvtegen's Missing. I started this at the beach and quickly got halfway through - then set it down... until I picked it up yesterday and finished it. A quick, good read (only 294 pages). The book is a "Swedish thriller" about a privileged woman who is living as a drifter. She is quickly accused of murder, and throughout the story you follow the murders. Did she do them? If she has money why is she living a homeless lifestyle? The story flashes back to her past, growing up, and what led her to where she is, and the present as you try to figure out if she is the murderer and if not, who is. I really enjoyed the book, lots of twists and the whole time you really believed her story and worried about her safety. I give it a 4.5/5 - well edited and had a good, suspenseful pace.

After reading, I worked on videos and added a new section to the site: Tips & How Tos. It is a place that includes a lot of my posts about things like weight loss & workouts, home organization, cooking & food, etc. I also included stuff like my first 100 days and how I set goals. It was fun to read and resurface some of these posts, and I hope to build on this page as I continue blogging! Guess who kept me company?

Seriously - best companions ever

Love this little fella!

Then I cooked a recipe and got ready for a party at Lo's! We had fun, had a few drinks, met some nice people, played cornhole then called it a night! Sunday we slept in- SO nice! Then we did stuff around the house before heading up to Lake Lanier to Sharon & Terry's for Father's Day. We visited for a few hours, got to wish Tyler a happy birthday in person (he was in NY for his 21st birthday) then headed back to home to work, do laundry, and get ready for the week. Here's a few pics:

Who doesn't love cookie cake?

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

And a new recipe - a new pasta bake we've been munching on!

Mexican Bake with Cilantro-Lime Cream
Makes 6 Servings
Recipe adapted from Diabetic Living
Nutritional Information: 393 calories, 59 carbs, 5 fat grams and 30 protein grams.

Check out the recipe at Healthified Kitchen!

Q: What was the highlight of your weekend?

Q: What's an update you recently did to your blog, or that you plan to do?

Catch Up, New Breakfast Recipe

Yesterday was all about getting back to life, back to reality! Thank you for your sweet comments on our travels!! I've been slowly catching up your blogs and what all you guys have been up to! Yesterday was also all about getting back to these guys:

Remy

Reuben

They make it REALLY hard to stay away! So we got up early in Birmingham and drove to Atlanta where I immediately got to work pre-cooking, unpacking, getting my oil changed, picking up puppers, cleaning said puppers, hitting up Petco for new seatbelts and life jackets for their upcoming lake trip, laundry, more unpacking... the list went on. I think I finally sat down at 8 p.m. EXHAUSTED! LOL No workouts as planned but I sure felt like i'd had one with all of the running around! The night ended with a bit of DVR catch up and family time. SO NICE to have the day to catch up.

I also wanted to share a new recipe I had before we left town that I never had the chance to post. It's a yummy, easy breakfast recipe that's meatless - yay!

Egg & Veggie Breakfast Pockets
Recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens
Makes 4 Servings

Nutritional Information: 325 calories, 27 carbs, 16 fat grams and 18 protein grams.

We loved the crispy pockets, and the onions added nice crunch and the spinach mixed in well. The garlic helped give it a bit of kick, and the egg filling went well in the crescent. All in all a good breakfast. Yes, a bit high in fat, but it kept me full for hours.

Q: What's been your go-to breakfast lately? I've been finding it SUPER easy to stuff all of my favorite things into these little crescents! My other go to has been filling crescents with ham, jalapenos and pepper jack cheese- um, fabulous!

Q: Do you have pets? If so, do they travel with you? Mine have never done well in crates in the car, but I hate to just hold them - I just worry about their size and if there was an accident. Ugh - don't want to think about it. Anyway - I hope these new seat belt harnesses work for them - wish us luck this weekend as head off to the lake for Memorial Day!

Less is More in April, Goal Assessment, New Indian Recipe

Happy Friday!

Reuben caught with his tongue out (again!) and sleepy Remy dozing in the car

Mary T sent me these pics via Facebook from our December road trip to AL! Love them! So...OMG still behind on blog reading - OY! This week has just been so busy with work, home projects, crap weather, doubled commutes, etc. I didn't even get a workout in yesterday - NOT cool. I think my focus is just everywhere. I'm trying to cook a bunch of new stuff (which takes longer than cooking 'oldies) and I'm really trying to get a bunch of spring cleaning done. Then of course there's my job, my workouts, my goals (who has time to edit video?). Eek! And you know, family and friends. Important stuff like that! :) I think I just thought "March is long, I can do SO much, but alas, it was a tough one and not everything got done. I'm giving myself a break in April - fewer goals = more success. I hope! You can check out my March goal assessment and April goals here. Yes, I made a goal page. BE a bigger nerd. Not possible. Clearly.

Moving on! So yesterday like I mentioned was just a frenzy of work, home chores (laundry/dishes), more work, cooking, more work, framing project, kitchen 'business center' project, you NAME it. I finally stopped spinning my wheels around 9 p.m., which was when Austin got back from poker - perfect! So we had a few beers and played with the baby puppers. Great day but again, too much - I WILL get better at not trying to multi-multi-multi task. :) I normally enjoy getting things done - and I want to keep it that way so less is definitely more in April. As you can imagine from all of the cooking I mentioned - I DO have a recipe to share. :) This is the one that involved the grinding of the cardamom!! We LOVED it.

Chicken Vindaloo
Recipe adapted from a Cooking Light.com recipe
Makes 4 Servings
Nutritional Information: 375 calories, 48 carbs, 7 fat grams and 31 protein grams.
Whole pan

Here's the recipe on Healthified Kitchen!

Q: In-home Indian dishes - yay or nay? I don't think i'll ever eat Indian out again - I love them!

Q: What are you looking forward to most this weekend? I'm looking forward to seeing my nephew Dane and volunteering at the pet shelter today, celebrating Shana's upcoming baby Preston and visiting with friends tomorrow, and enjoying my time at home with my family on Sunday. I think we're going to have nice weather - eee!

4 Miles, Puppers, Full Saturday, Injury

Happy Sunday!! Hope you're all having beautiful days - I am. This is what i'm looking at right now (aside from your blogs)

I love spending the day with my puppers! Backing up a bit to Friday, which was just a busy work day. I was able to get in a 4-mile walk during lunch with Stacy - YAY! We also did abs. After work, I headed straight home, did a few chores and then me and Austin headed to meet Katie and Cush at their place for a drink. Which led to another drink at Taco Mac with a big group of buddies, then us, Katie & Cush & Jeff went to a local bar near the casa. Trying to get in as much Katie & Cush time as possible before they leave for Colorado. I'm am going to miss them SO much. Great night! I was asleep by 1:30.

Saturday I got up and had intended to hit the gym, but got a lot done at home instead, doing laundry, wrapping gifts, grocery shopping, dropping items off at Goodwill, getting gas - you name it. 1 p.m. came early, and it was time to shower and get to Jennifer's to give her a baby shower gift and see the nursery! I visited with her for a bit, then went to get a haircut (bliss!), then went to my mom's and visited with her and then drove over to her friend's Naka & Meredith to meet them and their little boy Kai. My mom nannies for Kai and LOVES it - I see why - they seem like wonderful people, their house is fabulous and Kai couldn't be cuter! After THAT, we hit up Leon's for dinner with 20 to celebrate Katie & Cush's going away! We got an amazing spot outside; able to enjoy the weather but sit by a heat lamp - perfection. From dinner, we headed to Twain's. The guys hit up the foosball, shuffleboard and beer, while us ladies chatted about everything from weddings to babies to work - we also hit up the vodka. Wonderful night with great friends, and so fun to meet new, awesome peeps! Here's some pics!

Most of the group - a few got cut off - sad!

Fun group shots!

GREAT times with these ladies! We even got in that photo booth behind us. Yes, all 6 of us. Hilarity. And I LOVE that we're all brunettes!

The ladies with Cush & Matt

The spot we had outside at Leon's

ONE thing did not go my way last night. My finger got slammed in a door. BAD. Like I almost passed out from all of the blood (yes, it was very embarrassing haha). Thankfully - Austin got me in a chair and the girls helped cool me off and I was back to normal and doctored up quickly. In the meantime... go here to see a pic. You know, if you're morbidly curious. :) I had it posted here but don't want to gross people out... sorry if you've already seen it! LOL

The whole part on the top/right is 'loose' - like 3/4" of skin is flapping around - EW. Thankfully, I have a great wound cleaner kit (from my runner's toe problem) so I'm good to go but GENA it hurts. Even now - as I type about how bad it hurts.

Q: Why do "nail problems" hurt SO DANG BAD? I mean really!

Q: What 'cha up to today?! We are doing nothing. Just making hummus, cooking a bit, wrapping up laundry, petting the baby puppers and enjoying the lazy day together. Is a busted thumb a good excuse to skip the gym? No?

My Third Anniversary, 'Three Reasons Why' Wednesday, Pupper Pics

Thanks you guys! LOVING the couscous recipe links - you guys are awesome! As you know i'm always looking for a new recipe to try so it makes sense to build a recipe around something you love - like couscous. I need to find a quinoa recipe round up next - love using that little grain. Well friends, today is my third anniversary!

Zach Porter Photography

I have been married for three years today. Like every year, it doesn't seem like it's been that long but then it's like oh yeah, a lot has happened since we got married! We bought a house together and moved, got a new pupper, each got new cars, Austin got a new job, I got promoted at my job, I've started the blog, we lost a combined 70+ pounds (and gained back a bit!), we've done so much work on the house (lighting projects, granite, new appliances, new roof - you name it!), we've started cooking and meal planning, we've gone on fun trips to NY, Punta Cana, Arizona, etc., we've celebrated so many of our family and friends' birthdays, weddings, babies - the list goes on! I love being married to Austin and feel so lucky that I can honestly say, "I'm happy."

Zach Porter Photography

Two little words, one little phrase, that can seriously mean YOUR WORLD. Yes, work is overwhelming sometimes, I get sick every once in a while and I've been known to spread myself too thin with commitments and freak out. And some days I wake up and feel fat/my hair looks bad/my skin is "gross", etc. But I really do feel happy with my family, my friends, my job and my life. Did I just ask the other shoe to drop? Maybe! :) Two days ago was our 10th Valentine's Day together. CRAZY. And WOW, I checked back on the blog:

First Anniversary (2009): It was a Monday, Austin was sick, we were in "house hunting hell," so we stayed in and I cooked for him. Then we went out to our favorite Lobster Bar to celebrate.

Second Anniversary (2010): It was a Wednesday, I was under the weather, but we went out to Pampas Steakhouse for steak and wine and had a great dinner.

K - enough anniversary talk! The day, outside of that, was pretty much spent with working, had to work through lunch (SO much to do!). Now we're just hanging at home - going to postpone dinner until I feel better! But are going to have a nice dinner in and watch a movie - yay!

So I used to do these 3 Reasons Why, and really loved them. Such a great way to highlight things you love and focus on the positive! So i'm going to do one now - here goes. Three Reasons Why I Love My Puppers.

1. They always make me smile with their adorable faces. I mean, really - cuties!

my sweet boy!

and girl!

2. No matter how bad your day is, coming home to this is pretty sweet.

3. They truly love you... no matter what!

Q: Who or what would be in your "3 Reasons Why" today?

Q: How do you prefer to celebrate anniversaries or big milestones? Dinner and a movie? Chill night in? Bowling? What?!

Puppers, Presents and Black Ice - Oh My!

Hi, Friends! Thank you for your comments and support of my little sesamoid issue and now, my need to switch it up and find some new cardio for 2011 - woo! I'm already excited about classes. I just need to do it - and with an HRM I can still figure how hard i'm working which helps SO much. So... here's some pics I took last night!

my babies

Little Remy shows off her new outfit I found in Chicago (best place for winter dog clothes BTW)

She considers jumping off of the chair

She settles in next to brother Reuben - happy to be near him....

he doesn't exactly feel the same way... hehe

So he gets down and of course now she wants to get back down again!

Austin is a poodle whisperer (check out Reuben's tongue hehe he LOVES to give kisses)

I mean really - the poodles adore him

We wrapped all of our presents. Now we're excited to give them out!!

Here's yesterday in a nutshell:

• Running late for work and get there... no laptop! (first time in 5 years of working there that I left it... wow).
• Austin meets me with laptop and I get to work 1.5 hours later than normal. AWESOME.
• I work.
• I take a late lunch and walk 4 miles.
• I work late (until 6:30) to make up for the time I lost in the a.m.
• I drive through LOTS of black ice. I HATE feeling out of control behind the wheel. And even though I left long after rush hour, it still takes me an hour to get home. Glad i'm enjoying my audio book! (James Patterson's Beach Road)
• It's now 7:30, not going to the gym, going to EAT instead.
• And wrap presents.
• And take pictures of my puppers.
• And enjoy the fire.
• And have a couple of beers with Austin.

Another GREAT family night!

Q: Have you ever driven on black ice? I'm sure it's happened before my but new car terrifies me with this orange button that flashes confirming my fear that yes, I have no control over the vehicle! Scare Bear!

Q: Have you wrapped your presents yet? Do you enjoy wrapping? We divide and conquer - Austin usually wraps and I do bows, ribbons and name tags. Or we wrap together - me doing tape and then us each taking an end! :)