The best time :)

I absolutely love the summer time! I love the fresh fruit and vegetables, especially when its on sale! Yesterday I was able to stock my refridgerator with black cherries, peaches, plums, red seedless grapes, peppers, sweet potatoes, carrots, and cabbage! Yummm :)

Hope you are all taking advantage of this season and freezing or canning your excess food!

Sloppy Joes

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen were my favorite actresses growing up and I owned every single one of their movies! One of my favorites was when the girls went to camp and met each other there and realized they were twins! While at camp, they were served manwiches!
Well, I never knew what a manwich was but my mama always made us sloppy joes growing up! Now, I am not a huge fan of ground beef, I don't like hamburger helper or most hamburger casseroles, but I do love sloppy joes!
Sloppy joes are easy and cheap and it makes a lot of meals in one dish! Tonight, I used deer hamburger meat, 3/4 cup of ketchup, 2 tablespoons of mustard, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, and 2 tablespoons of wostershire sauce. Mix that all together after browning one pound of meat. You can also add in chopped onions and green pepper! Also chopped tomatoes!
Cook this and put it on a hamburger bun and serve! A childhood favorite is one of our family favorites now! :)

Cooking Up A Storm

I love being married to my best friend and being able to cook supper most nights of the week makes for great conversation, especially since I love nutrition and cooking! So this past week I made something called "Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas." Can you say D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S?

I took three boneless skinless chicken breasts and sliced them up into bite size pieces and placed them in a large skillet with a can of tomatoes that were labeled as "Tex Mex Style." Great choice! After this, I took whole wheat tortillas and laid them on a plate and dipped the chicken and tomato mixture onto the tortillas and rolled them up and placed five of them into a large glass casserole dish. I then combined a 8-ounce sour cream and a can of cream of chicken soup in a bowl and poured the mixture over the enchiladas. Finally, I topped the dish with two cups of cheddar and mozzarella shredded cheese. I baked this at 350F for 30 minutes and then bon appetite! It was like my husband and my taste buds rejoiced in the flavorful, juicy chicken, slightly spicy tomatoes, and cheesy, creamy, simple meal! Even eating this as leftovers (which I am not a fan of most dished reheated) was a family favorite!

On another note: my sweet Zoe weighs 12.5 pounds now! She is growing too fast!

Until next time...

-ME

Pimento Cheese

Now that we are settled in, I am starting to cook more often! I began eating pimento cheese a few months ago when I was at a work luncheon and my boss had picked some up from a local coffee shop! At first, I was weary due to the tubs of it my mother use to purchase from the grocery store when it appeared real runny and gooey, but this was thick and chunky and appeared to have mostly cheese. I was beyond in love with the flavor of this sandwich and could not wait to make my own.

Now, I am about to attempt this recipe that I found called Cadillac Pimento Cheese (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cadillac-pimento-cheese/detail.aspx)

It calls for:

1 1/2 cups shredded processed American cheese food

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 (2 ounce) jar chopped pimento peppers

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 dash garlic powder

Then you mix it all together, season it, then chill! Here goes nothing! Pimento cheese for lunch on whole grain bread :)

Oh how I love married life :)

Married Life

I am a college graduate - whooo hoo for Nutritionists! :)

Also, my little brother is now a high school graduate!

I had my "bachelorette trip" with my girls for a weekend at the beach before the wedding and had a blast spending the weekend with each of them :)

I have been married to my best friend, Benton for almost 2 weeks now!

It's hard to believe that we were in Jamaica this time last week!

We were at Sandals Whitehouse and it was beautiful there! We are so blessed to have been so fortunate to go there. We met a lot of other honeymooners and we were able to relax and eat a lot of varieties of food too!

Our house has came together piece by piece and room by room. But the house and the honeymoon mean nothing compared to how great it is to wake up beside my best friend every morning.

Sweet Zoe, our puppy has made the transition into the new home very well! She is just the sweetest little pup!


I cannot wait to hear back from the University of West Florida about my Master's program that I applied for. Also, I am looking forward to applying for the fall round of dietetic internships!

Finally, I have been able to cook a lot more lately with my husband which is wonderful! :)

Short post, yes, but I must get some rest and do laundry - it calls my name :)

-ME

April Already???!!!???

In the midst of school, I am now 50 days away from being a married woman! How exciting is it to know that God placed two hearts together to become one family in 50 days! As we are reading through some relationship books recommended by our pastor who is marrying us, we are gaining more and more respect for each other and things are coming together slowly.

Our house is coming together, Benton continues to work on it while I am in school and when I am home, I like to go over and straighten up and help decorate! I even tried to do some yard work one day.

Also going on right now, is I am working on second-round dietetic internship applications, and man is it a lot of work during the hardest week of school ever! I know God has a plan for me, but I just had such a good feeling about the University of Northern Colorado and then I didn't get matched. So now, I am applying for three or four more and will find out in the next few weeks!

If I don't get matched, I will be looking for jobs and beginning graduate school in the fall! Also, I will be reapplying for the fall round of internships which begins in January of next year.

I trust God with this though, and even though I do not understand it right now, he knows best and knows exactly what will happen after graduation.

Currently, my great aunt June is passing away pretty quickly. In 1912, my great-grandmother Lizzie, a twin, was born. Years later she married my great-grandad who I never met, Sam Barton. They wed and had 12 kids! 6 boys and 6 girls, 6 blonde's and 6 brunettes, 6 blue eyes and 6 brown eyes. How amazing is that?!?!?

In 2006 Granny Barton passed away at the age of 94. She outlived some of her children and some outlived her. Currently, 5 of the 6 boys have passed: David, Charles, Bobby, Donald, and Jerry. Danny is a pastor and he is still a healthy man with 4 grown children and a 2 grandkids and one on the way! As for the girls, all 6 are still alive: Vivian, Faye, Evelyn, Sue, Beth, and June. And currently, Aunt June is very sick with cancer in both lungs and pneumonia. This is such a strong family that is close and has grown even closer over the years. How sad it is to see one suffering, but I know that watching her suffer is worse than anything I've ever seen. I know that soon God will make her suffering stop, and in the midst of all this business, her brother and sisters will be together for a few days from miles and miles around, they will be together again.

How great is it that God gives us family? Family is a backbone of who we are as we grow and I love knowing that when family fails or passes that we still have our father, Jesus Christ to turn to in the midst of pain and darkness.

-ME

March Madness

When I say March Madness, I am not referring to basketball. I am referring to the reality that has set in on me. I am getting married in less than 70 days. I am graduating in less than 60 days. I am potting training my new puppy, Zoe in which my wonderful fiance bought for my birthday. I am teaching Zoe how to sit and thats a challenge. I am in the midst of my FINAL undergraduate classes ever and stress has set in. I am less than 3 weeks away from finding out about the University of Nothern Colorado's Distance Dietetic Internship. I am trying to lose those dreaded "last 5 pounds." I am working 2 jobs. I am working on decorating and setting up "Our New Home" for when Benton and I get married in May. I am trying to figure out a graduate program and get the application in. I am trying to do so much and where has my nutrition and fitness gone during this "March Madness?" DOWN THE DRAIN.

It's pitiful how easy it is to get caught up in my television shows like the Bachelorette and Grey's Anatomy and forget how easily a short person like me gains weight. On top of all the stress from school and planning a wedding, I am getting nervous about the Dietetic Internship. But, it is in times like these when I have to remember to trust in God because he has a plan and above all others, his is perfect.