Style Saturday - Coral Edition

 I am really loving all of the color that is everywhere on all the spring and summer clothes this year, especially the coral. It is such a fun and cheerful color, and can be used as an accent color to so many other colors. 

My Thought for Today......

Skinny Carnitas Tacos

Jordan and mine healthy eating continues with crock pot pork carnitas tacos tonight.  We both really enjoyed them, and it was nice to be greeted with the smell when I walked in the door after work. The best part was that my whole dinner was less then 425 calories and I walked away full.

I found this recipe on www.skinnytaste.com, which is quickly becoming my favorite website to find healthy recipes. I have tried several different ones and they have all been really good. All of her recipes include the nutritional information and weight watchers points, so they can be adjusted for any diet. I have also been using the My Fitness Pal app on my iphone to track the calories I am eating and I have been able to find all the recipes that I have made already in the app.

I prepped the meat the last night and put it in the fridge. Then all I had to do this morning before work was take the crock pot out of the fridge and turn it on. It was all ready to go when I got home from a long day at work. I served them on Mission white corn tortillas, with avocado, and homemade salsa, I will definitely be making these again!

Bathroom Remodel Continued

The bathroom remodel is coming along, all the repair work is done and it is starting to be put back together. Jordan and my dad worked on it all day one day last week, and again today while my mom and I went to the mall. I think we had the better end of the stick! All of the dry wall is back up and the wall is textured. Thank goodness my dad is so handy and has been able to help us on the project!

Next up it needs to be painted, the tile needs to be fixed, baseboards need to be installed, and then finally the installation of the new fixtures can begin! I am getting anxious for it all to be put together after it being ripped apart for almost a month now. Maybe in the next couple of weeks it will all be finished.

New Mexico Chicken Tacos

The other day when I was grocery shopping at our local Sprouts, and I came across Frontera's New Mexico Taco Skillet Sauce for chicken tacos and at $2.99 I decided why not give it a try. I am always up for a new kind of taco. To be honest, I did not have the highest hopes for it because I am so picky about prepackaged, convenience foods, but was pleasantly surprised. The flavors were bold and smoky and it gave the chicken a real southwest flavor. It was quick, easy and delicious. 

I used the package of sauce with 1lb of ground chicken cooked according to the package directions and served it in corn tortillas with a little bit of homemade salsa. 

On there website, http://www.fronterakitchens.com they feature many different kinds of sauces and I am anxious to try a few more of them. 

Happy MLK Day!

Happy MLK Day! Which means it was a three day weekend for me! Jordan and I also had 2 days off in a row together, that does not happen very often, and we took advantage of it by going to the Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells. We left early Sunday morning and hit up the outlets in Cabazon on the way. At the Hyatt we were upgraded to a private villa that included a living room area, bedroom, fireplace, and huge bathroom! It also had a small backyard with a private spa. It was so nice to get away for the night and enjoy time together. 

Winter Favorites and Must Haves

Although we have not seen a lot of winter so far this season, I still have my winter favorites and must have winter items.

My favorites winter items so far this winter..

EOS Organic Lip Balm. It comes it summer fruit, lemon drop, tangerine, sweet mint, and honeysuckle honeydew. I have only tried the lemon drop and it is amazing. It tastes like you are eating a lemon bar and it leaves your lips feeling so soft and moisturized

I first tried Bliss Body Butter when I was at the W Hotel in San Diego, and I am addicted to this stuff. It is thick, but fast adsorbing and not oily.  

I love scarfs! They come in so many colors and patterns and can be tied in so many different ways!

Boots and boot socks. So cute and yet so warm and cozy for cold winter days. 

Santa Fe Crock Pot Chicken

To start off 2012 Jordan and I both decided that we needed to start eating a little healthier to loose like 5lbs (or 10lbs). We have been counting calories and I have been looking for healthier recipes. We are both doing really well so far! I have come across skinnytaste.com, which has a lot of good healthy recipes and all the recipes on the website include nutritional information. I tried this one for Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken the other night and it was delicious (especially for diet food). 

Santa Fe Crock Pot Chicken 

Ingredients 

1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts 

1 can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies

1 cup frozen corn 

1 14.4 oz can fat free chicken broth 

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder 

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne 

salt to taste

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

3 chopped green onion  

Directions 

1. Combine tomatoes, corn, chicken broth, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne, cilantro, green onion, and salt in crock pot. 

2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place on top in the crock pot. 

3. Cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. 

4. Shred the chicken when soft and mix in. 

5. Add salt and seasoning as needed. 

6. Serve over rice and top with sour cream

According to the website, 1 cup of the chicken mixture has 190 calories (rice and sour cream extra). Her recipe included beans and mine does not so 1 cup would be even less then 190 calories!

Weekend Fun!

Weekends sure do go by fast! I am not of fan of just 2 day ones, after getting spoiled by so many 3 day ones in a row. Next weekend is another 3 day weekend to look forward to! We are going to the Hyatt Grand Champions in Palm Desert just to get away for the weekend. It is the same hotel my Bachelorette Party was at =) The weather should be great and it will be nice to have a little get away.

This weekend was fun also. Friday Night we went to the Ducks game with my parents and the Ducks actually! Jordan's highlight of the night was wearing his new jersey and having his picture with Wild Wing.

On Saturday, we went down to Laguna Beach, where we enjoyed lunch at 230 Forest and walked around.. The weather was just perfect. So lucky to live in California where we get to enjoy 70 degree weather and warm sunshine in January. 

Also this weekend I finished reading The Wedding Gift by Marlen Bodden. It was a free book on Amazon this past week, that I randomly decided to read. (To view book description click here). With the free books it is luck of the draw sometimes they are really good and other times they were not. I got lucky with this book and really enjoyed it. There were many twists in the book that I did not see coming. 

Up next I think I might read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo so I can see the movie. 

Bathroom Remodel Day 1

We are in the middle of an emergency bathroom remodel. Sure 1985 had hit the bathroom and not left, and it needed to be redone sooner or later. However, I would not have choose a week after Christmas to re-do it!

It all started about 2 years ago, when I noticed that there was some water damage in the downstairs bathroom. I did not think much of it, and just figured it had been there for a long time and nothing to worry about. I did not think there was a problem until I took the Christmas decorations out of the closet underneath the stairs and noticed there was water damage under there also, and it was not good!

It was determined that the leak had to be coming from the downstairs bathroom, as that was where the most  water damage was. My Dad and Jordan manage to rip most everything out of the bathroom (which because of all the water damage came out pretty easily!) As it turned out the leak was coming from the dirty water pipe draining the water from the master bathroom above (So gross!). 

The good news is the leak is fixed and I get a nicely re-done bathroom!

But in the mean time, here is what the bathroom looks like. 

Easy Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

I began cooking dinners for Jordan when we will still dating, and from that time until the present he has bugged me to make Chicken and Wild Rice for dinner. It was one of his favorite recipes that his mom use to make. I finally broke down and made it for him (It only took a year and half of marriage!) After reviewing several different recipes on how to make it,  I took a little but from each of them and made my own. 

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Ingredients:

8oz packaged Long Grain and Wild Rice (I used 2 boxes of Rice-a-Roni)

1 medium onion 

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sour cream 

10 3/4oz can of Cream of Chicken Soup 

2 cups shredded chicken (I made it easy on myself and bought a rotisserie chicken and shredded the white breast meat) 

Directions:

1. Cook the rice according to the package direction. 

2. While the rice is cooking melt the butter over medium heat and add the onion. Saute until tender. 

3. Add the chicken, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup to the onions and remove from heat.

4. Add the cooked rice to the mixture and combine 

5. Cook uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes in an oven safe casserole dish. 

6. Enjoy!

2011 a Year in Review

Looking back at 2011, it sure was a good year with lots of wonderful memories and many firsts. 

-enjoyed several trips to Disneyland until our passes expired in March 

-spent lots of time with family and friends 

-celebrated our first Valentine's Day as a married couple

-saw many friends tie the knot 

-saw the Angels during Spring Training 

-saw Wicked at the Orange County Preforming Arts for my birthday in March 

-upgraded our Angel's Season Seats and went to many baseball games

-went to Sandals in Jamaica 

-spent a couple day in New York

-celebrated our first year of marriage 

-went on many hikes 

-enjoyed going to the OC Fair 

-was a bridesmaid in a good friend's wedding 

-became member's of the San Diego Zoo

-spent Labor Day in Palm Springs

-Got a new car 

-celebrated a good friend's birthday in San Diego

-started this blog

-made new friends 

-went wine tasting with good friends in Temecula 

-went to several Ducks Hockey Games 

-went to San Francisco

-visited friends in Northern CA 

-tailgated at the Chargers Game 

-hosted Christmas with my in-laws for the first time 

-had a wonderful Christmas with my family 

-had a fabulous time say good-bye 2011 and happy 2012

2011 was a great year and a busy year! I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store!