A Meal by Meal Guide. Kind Of.

Forgive the lack of originality, but I LOVE Christmas.  Family, togetherness, presents, and of course, Baby Jesus!

At the beginning of our celebrations, I decided to attempt to photograph all of the meals we enjoyed.  I sort of failed, but I did remember enough times to rationalize a post dedicated to them.. 

These are just another perfect example of why Pinterest is so wonderful.  Devils food cookies stuffed with Rolos.

 

My mama's specialty--Coquilles St. Jacques.  It's basically scallops and mushrooms with white wine, cream and cheese.  It's ridiculous.

 

I was in charge of the main course and decided to go with a classic Coq au Vin.  It's a french chicken dish cooked down with veggies, herbs, and red wine.  So comforting and tasty!

 

I served the Coq au Vin over garlic whipped yellow potatoes and with green beans.

 

A couple appetizers we had were my pumpkin, sausage, and cheese stuffed mushrooms and my dad's meat and cheese stuffed jalapenos.  Apparently we like our foods stuffed in my family.

 

For Christmas dinner, I marinated a round steak overnight in soy sauce, sesame oil, hoison, ginger, and a few other goodies.

 

 

We grilled the steak and made a spicy brown rice and veggie stir fry as side dishes--so delicious!

What's your favorite dish/holiday tradition?!

MORE Exciting Than Christmas!

GREAT news.  My husband and I have officially booked a mid-winter trip to Mexico!

Come February, we'll be enjoying the all inclusive life here:

 
   

If you could die of excitement, I think I might.

That being said, this calls for an 8-week diet and exercise program!  Boo.

My goal is to get to my wedding weight, which was only 7 pounds ago.  

Yeah, this thin-armed chick.  I miss her.

I know it doesn't seem like much, but A) I have limited time and B) I carry 7 lbs pretty obviously...

So far, I'm 3 days in and have worked out every day.  Good start, right?

I'm also focusing really closely on my diet.  Generally, I eat pretty healthy, but I'm trying to get SERIOUS about it.

I've been starting with my amaze Greek yogurt and fresh fruit breakfast shake.  

For lunch, I try to keep it high-protein and low cal.  This was today's creation.  I even subbed out the mayo in the chicken salad with Greek yogurt.  It's fat free, high-protein, and I promise you don't miss the extra calories!

Finally, I'm letting my love for list-making take over and am planning out dinners in advance for the next 8 weeks, which means my husband gets to go on a forced diet!

I have also taken before photos, which I have no intention of posting unless my after pictures are just that impressive.  But don't count on it :) 

Just dropping in..

To make sure you all know about this AMAZING giveaway!

www.pinkonthecheek.com

Check it out!

Wedded Bliss Wednesdays

 

If money were not an object, what would you buy your husband for Christmas this year?

There are so many things I wish I could get for him.  He's really not materialistic at all, so everything he "wants" are actually really necessary.  I think I'd get him a new car for sure.  He's driving my old SUV that I drove in high school just so I could drive our newer car.  Seriously the sweetest man in the world.

  I'm leaning towards these:

2013 Ford Explorer

2013 Ford Edge

 

And if money seriously wasn't an object..this one :)

And, of course, I'd love to take him to Italy!

Food Blogging Fail

Let me start this out with a very sad story.  Okay, not that sad, just SUPER obnoxious.

I taught a cooking class last week.  It was awesome.  My mom was my sous chef, we made olive tapenade, sweet onion tart, brie and caramelized onion beef sliders, orange scented chocolate mousse, and spice cake and cream cheese cake pops.

And, let me tell you, we took a whole bunch of pictures.  But, guess what?!  LOST MY CAMERA.  I don't have the slightest clue where the damn thing is, but the awesome food-filled post I had planned has gone to..well, you know where.

So I'm hoping it'll turn up and I'll be able to at least share some of the fun pictures from that night.

I did make some lemon-blueberry cupcakes for Women's Lifestyle Magazine's holiday party, planned by my moms.

(Photos by Two Eagles Marcus)

Also, I had my first cavity filled this morning.  I was nervous!  I'm not super freaked out by needles/pain (3 tattoos..), but I do have a fear of the unknown.  So I was "that girl" acting like a 12 year old having the dentist (who by the way, is SO attractive.  It wasn't just the numbness making me drool..) verbally talk me through every move he made.

It was a piece of cake.  However, being the genius that I am, I decided to run an errand to  Hobby Lobby in all of my numb-tongued, word-slurring glory.  Not my finest hour.

BUT, I'm in the middle of a crafty phase and made this gem while waiting for the Novocaine to wear off.

I know, I'm obsessed with my dog.  I mean, I'm no artist, but I think it turned out kind of cute in a homemade sort of way, right?