Cheese Winners!, Southwest Salad Recipe

Thanks you guys!! We seriously adored those tacos -they tasted wonderful reheated, too! I hope you all had wonderful weekends - we did! And Happy Mother's Day!! Before I get on to our weekend plans, it's time to share the TWO winners for the Cabot giveaway, hosted by Cabot's Kelly and Wendy! The winners receive this piece of awesomeness:

Yes, 8 blocks of amazing cheese! And the winners are (chosen by random number generator out of 70 comments) - Lea@Healthy Coconut and Nicole@HeatOvento350! Congrats, ladies, and thanks to all of you for participating - loved the comments the 'cheese' ideas! Here are their write-ins!

Nicole & Lea - i'll be emailing you for your information so we can get that cheese out! :)

How was your weekend?! Ours was great! Friday we just cleaned up around the house, did a few house projects (hung frames, hung shelves, etc.), had a couple of beers then called it a night! Saturday we got up early, I cooked a few new meals and Austin worked out in the yard -then we got ready - had to be ready by 2 p.m. for a 4 p.m. wedding on the other side of town! Melissa and Jon came over and we visited for a bit then headed out to see our boss get married! She had a beautiful wedding in an amazing location, perfect weather, yummy food and an all-around lovely event! I had a great time hanging out with Mel, Jon, Stacy, Shane and our co-workers! After the reception we headed back to our place and had some drinks, played pool and hung out with Mel, Jon and a few of their buddies - such a fun, chill night! Wedding pics to come tomorrow!

On another note, I've been meaning to share this awesome recipe for a great Southwest Salad with Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette (found on For the Love of Cooking). I know you can't tell, but these Crate & Barrel bowls are BIG, like 10" squares and about 4" deep! Please note, this makes salad for like 40 people! LOL It's great to take to an event, or you can just divide the recipe down for less food!

Nutritional Information (for each huge bowl of salad including dressing):2,023 calories, 158 carbs, 136 fat grams and 65 protein grams.

Q: What's your favorite go-to salad? Do you ever bring salad to potlucks?

Q: What was the highlight of your weekend? I felt like I had so many! I loved seeing El get married, spending time with Mel, seeing my family and little Dane, celebrating Mother's Day with my sister/new mom and my mom, and the list goes on!

Salad #2, Chicago, 4.5 miles, New Chili Recipe!

Hi! Sorry so absent on blog commenting - I hope to catch up tomorrow! It does sound like you guys had great weekends!! Love it - and thank you for your sweet comments about AU - it's so fun to see your alma mater doing so well in sports and getting great recognition - I hope we're able to go to the National Championship this year!!

So I've had an interesting, busy day today! Real quick back up, yesterday was very chill - just lunch with Teresa and Forrest while watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a nap, crap movies with Austin, rest and packing for Chicago - I have a training conference there so i'm in Chicago Monday- Wednesday. Anywho, I did have a salad! That would be Salad #2 in my 10 salads in December mini challenge. :)

romaine, fat-free feta cheese, rotel slowcooker shredded chicken, cherry tomatoes, cilanto salad dressing

We also had a new recipe for lunch - Creamy White Chicken. A new favorite for sure!

Creamy White Chili
Recipe adapted from My Kitchen Café
Makes 6 Servings

Nutritional Information: 384 calories, 27 carbs, 15 fat grams and 29 protein grams.

Review: Wow. The sour cream + whipping cream base really make this soup taste sinful. The can of green chiles adds a nice kick, but it's mild (add a second can for even more!). There is nothing I would do different. The serving may not look huge but it packs a lot of protein with the chicken and beans and kept me full for hours. Austin, Teresa and Forrest agree that this soup is a winner! Austin liked his with a piece of toast.

Here's the recipe on Healthified Kitchen!

So Sunday wasn't bad, but today has been a whirlwind! Not bad, just busy! I woke up early, headed to the airport, and landed in Chicago! The day was spent dealing with Apple (iPhone problems) and shopping (got a new pair of boots and two coats - woo!). Very successful - also got some Christmas shopping done. :) Definitely a nice day! I had a great lunch of salmon and rice, and a yummy dinner of chicken pizza. I even got in a workout at the hotel: a 1.5 mile walk, 2-mile run, then another 1.5-mile walk - 5 miles total!

I'm now EXHAUSTED and in bed - have a full day of training tomorrow, and need to do some cardio too! I'll post pics of new purchases tomorrow, as well as some Chicago pics! For now here's one - the Crate & Barrel one block down! It looks like Santa's workshop! LOL The low is 13... brrrrrrr!

Q: Have you ever been to Chicago? I've only been one time before this time and just LOVED it. Had the best experience at the hotel and loved how genuinely kind and chatty everyone was everywhere, , from the staff to other patrons! Just a great city.

Q: Did you have a good Monday? Mine was really nice - I love this city AND cold weather although wow... it's COLD!