Attempt #XYZ

I have seriously sat down at least times today to post something. I wrote a sentence, drew a blank, then closed the window so I wouldn't have to look at the offensively empty post. Sooo.... Here I am.

It would appear that I will be going into the restaurant Friday for sure but maybe tomorrow. Finally. It's weird having so much time off. At first you think, 'Ah man! I am gonna get so much stuff done, it will be amazing!' You're looking up craft projects and recipes and party planning tips and pre-pregnancy advice and then BAM! You realize everything you're thinking about doing today can be done tomorrow... And then the cycle begins. You sleep in later, which in turn makes you stay up later. You're watching 3 episodes of Charmed a night after playing Sims for 5 hours. Your husband is waking up for work as you're snuggling into sleep... Not the most fun in the world... You start to miss seeing daylight and people. My whole plan of getting a holiday menu up and running totally crashed and burned because I'm lazy and a major procrastinator... Now I'm going back to work and I'll probably find more time to take care of business than I ever did while unemployed... Damn you, Sagittarius nature! You're ability to juggle when busy but become despondent when not hath caused me grief yet again!

Anyways, J and I are doing immensely well with our running. I did the week 1 schedule for two weeks instead of one because I wasn't there yet. I had pulled a thigh muscle on day 2 of week 1 so it threw me off. Luckily some swimming seemed to stretch it completely out and I was able to get back into the swing of things pretty quickly. This week is our 3rd week doing it. J is on the week 3 schedule (1.5 min jog/1.5 min walk/3 min jog/3 min walk }x2) and he is doing so well. I'm so proud of him. And I started the week 2 schedule (1.5 min jog/2 min walk }x6) and was able to do it all on Day 1 without too much struggle. Yay! We're both dealing with soreness because 1)we both lead pretty sedate lifestyles (heeeellllooooo, videogames are my love) and 2)we're doing barefoot running on concrete.

Attempted Fitness

J and I started running/walking. It's harder/not as hard as I thought it would be. Harder because it doesn't seem so bad when it says 1 minute run and 1.5 minute walk. Then you start and you realize a minute is a lot longer than you remember it being. Not as hard because I'm actually enjoying it. The soreness sucks and I'm hobbling around like an old lady....Buuuuttt, it's worth it for so many reasons.

J needs to get into shape for his prospective job interview. He needs a lot of work (we both do but my job doesn't depend on it) but we're working on it. I'm finding being the motivator is way better for me than being motivated. Pushing him, pushes me without the angry backlash I normally get from people trying to push me.

I want to run. Not necessarily a marathon or anything. Maybe one day but right now, my goal is to reach a point where I don't need to count down. Where I can comfortably run without thinking, 'is it almost over, I can't do this anymore.' Blagh. I'm tired of that.

So we're working on it. We were both too sore to actually run today but we power-walked for like 45 minutes. Shows how much I've changed since the last attempt. Before I would've said, 'screw it, I'm resting.' This time I want to do it and J doesn't really have the time to spare. It may not have been running but it was still something. We'll see how tomorrow feels.

Meatloaf Part Dos

The meatloaf came out really good and Jesse loved it.

I had to ask Jesse to pick up some spinach so we could have a salad with it and the domesticity of it all made me laugh. So, I put on a skirt and did my make up and even put on my mom's pearl necklace and greeted him with a cocktail when he came home. Oh, and his sandals since we live in southern california and it's too hot for slippers. haha. He thought it was hilarious and appreciated the cocktail.

I had to make a few changes to the recipe for size and some additions for flavor. Ultimately this is the recipe I ended up with:

1 1/2 cups of onion, rough chopped, whatever kind I already had
8 - 10 cloves of garlic, also rough chopped
2 tbl olive oil (really whatever amount the pan needed to cook the vegetables in)
2 tsp salt \ (I used 3 tsp of a salt and pepper mixture I always have on hand)
1 tsp pepper /
1 tsp dried thyme
a little less than 1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce (technically 1/2 of 1/3 of a cup)
1/2 cup chicken stock (although it occurred to me beef stock might pack a better punch)
1 tsp tomato paste
about 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (because I have it and it's delicious)
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
1 lb lean ground beef
3/4 cup bread crumbs
2 large eggs, beaten
about a 1 cup of ketchup

This is in no way exactly half of the original recipe but I made changes as I went through it in ways I thought made sense or to make my life a little easier.

I did also make some changes to the directions as she wants you to add the salt and pepper to the onions and cook but that'll make the pepper become bitter so I added it to the meat mixture instead.

The directions are pretty basic:
*Preheat the oven to 325oF

*Cook the onions and garlic and thyme in olive oil over med heat till the onions are translucent but not browned, and fragrant. Add the chicken stock, Worcestershire Sauce, and tomato paste and mix together. Set aside and let cool.

*Mix the meat together. Add the salt and pepper, breadcrumbs, beaten eggs, chopped basil, and cool onion mixture. Mix and smoosh together until evenly distributed and what not.

*Divide into two loaf pans. Spread a layer of ketchup over the tops and pop them into the oven. (Or in my case, fight with the oven door until it finally squeaks open.) Bake for about 30 to 45 minutes until internal temperature is 160oF. Fight with the door again then, Eat!

Mashed Potatoes would be delicious but I made Mac and Cheese instead... with cream instead of milk.... yum.... And spinach salads. That hopefully combats the cream... but probably not.

Altogether dinner was a hit and really didn't take much more time than any other dinner so it'll be happening again, no doubt. Maybe next time I'll take some pictures....

Meatloaf?

I'm thinking of making meatloaf for dinner... Turkey meatloaf though because I like avoiding ground beef if I can... I suppose I can mix the two. I wonder if that would taste good.

After a quick search of the internet, it appears to not be such a bad idea... And I think Jesse would like the flavor better, Mr. Ground-Turkey-is-NOT-the-same! Hmmmm....

I'm thinking of using this recipe, with a few adjustments. Especially since the recipe calls for 5 lbs (!) of meat. Yikes. Definitely going to half the recipe to starter. And add garlic. Garlic is necessary in almost everything....

Welp, better get started so it'll be cooking by the time Jesse gets home.

Here one minute, gone the next

I should really make an assignment for myself to bake at least one new item a week. And you know, write about it. You know, make use out of this blog.

January Attempt

So apparently blogging is not really my strong suit. I put it off and put it off and put it off until whoops, it's been several months and I have written one word.... I like writing and reading back in my past, I'm just not sure why I never keep it up. Even in my hand-written journals, it's like this.

I guess an update is in order...
*I got a new job for a wholesale bakery company. It's good. Not as technically complicated as my former job at the restaurant but still doing what I love so that's good.
*Have an order for a possible wedding cake sometime in the late spring-early summer in the works. I hope it goes through but you never know. It requires dairy-free stuff, either entirely or just a portion of it. This is a whole new venture for me but definitely worth the research and try.
*Enjoying living in my new house with Jesse, Sam, and Kyle. This is my first time living a)not in my mom's house, and b) with room-mates. It has been a learning experience but in a mostly positive way. And having a kitchen ain't bad at all.
*Jesse got an acceptance letter to begin the process to become a cop. He's excited but super nervous. He had originally received a letter saying he'd passed but didn't score high enough so this caught us off guard.
*I have been able to reconnect with some awesome people who I have missed. Thank you Facebook for your ability to find me people I like and ignore people I don't. =0)
*Christmas was good. We got a really nice tree and Sam and I worked together to get it all decorated. She went crazy in the house and it was really nice.
*Jesse and my anniversary was nice. We're really tight right now thanks to our state parks jobs being cut but we had fun anyways. We're promising ourselves a road trip or a nice dinner in the future when we have more money to move around.
*Jesse's birthday was good. He had a good time. And he made me make him an ice cream cake, tiki themed. I hated him for several hours. It was ridiculously hot the day before and of his birthday so whenever I tried working on the cake, it started to melt... AAghhhh! It came out ok though. Eventually....

That's all for now. Onward and upward...