My roses and toeses

My amazazing (no not a typo) hubby came home with 3 of the most beautiful longstem roses for our anniversary yesterday, 3 years 3 roses. They are so beautiful that I cannot keep them to myself, I must share, I must! Thank you sooooo much baby, I love you!!!!

And I also wanted to share my toenails! Gross I know, I think feet are so disgusting, except on little bitty babies! But while we were in California this weekend for my nephews 16th birthday, I decided to freshen my toenails up. They weren't bad, but I have seen the zebra stripes around and I absolutely love zebra stripes so I thought I would take a gander at them myself. I am pretty good when it comes to doing nails, my daughter always tells me that I should forgo going to nursing schooll and instead go to cosmetology school so I can do nails. Invested far too much into nursing school so far so I think I will stay there. Anywho, did these babies by myself, did my daughters fingernails too. Just took white nail polish, 2 to 3 coats depending on the thickness of the nail polish. Let it dry, then took a black polish made for designs, very thin long brush almost like a liquid eyeliner, you can find them almost anywhere now. Did my zebra stripes, let those dry and then applied a clear top coat. Frustrated though because the top coat smeared the stripes a bit, and I spent way too long on them to start all over, plus the party was going to start soon. It's really easy to do as long as you have a steady hand and some patience. Next time I'm gonna do hot pink with black zebra stripes! Sorry about the brightness!

Vegetable Quiche Cups to go

Small confession here, I haven't made these little goodies in a while but I love them so much I just have to share! My husband and I started the south beach diet shortly after we got married (awesome diet in my opinion), and this is a recipe from the book. I was really leery about this recipe at first because I wasn't sure my husband would like them but turns out we both did and they are really easy to take along especially on mornings that you are running late! So below is the recipe, I hope you like them as much as we did!

Ingredients:

1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach
3/4 c liquid egg substitute
3/4 c shredded reduced-fat cheese
1/4 c diced green bell pepper
1/4 c diced onion
3 drops hot sauce (optional)
(I also added crumbled turkey bacon)

Directions:

* Microwave the spinach on high for 2 1/2 minutes. Drain excess liquid. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with foil baking cups, spray cups with cooking spray.
* Combine egg substitute, cheese, peppers, onions, spinach and bacon in a bowl. Mix well. Divide evenly among the muffin cups (again an Ice cream scoop helps here). Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

The qucihe cups can be frozen and reheated in the microwave, you can also substitute any combination of vegetables or reduced-fat cheeses.

Hope you enjoy~

Blueberry-Maple Muffins

My morning project for today is Blueberry-Maple Muffins, trying to eat healthier but still allowing myself a little bit of sweetness! So I have included the recipe, which I found online at Eatingwell.com.

Ingredients:

1/5 c. whole flaxseeds
1 c whole-wheat flour
3/4 c plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 c pure maple syrup
1 c nonfat buttermilk (or mix 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar with 1 c milk)
1/4 c canola oil
2 tsp freshly grated orange zest
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c fresh blueberries
1 tbsp sugar

Preparation:

* Preheat oven to 400 degrees, Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.
* Grind flaxseeds in a spice mill (clean coffee grinder or small food processor). Transfer to a large bowl. Add whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt: whisk to blend. Whisk eggs and maple syrup in a medium bowl until smooth. Add buttermilk, oil, orange zest, orange juice and vanilla: whisk until blended.
* Make a well in the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula just until moistened. Fold in blueberries. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups ( I find that an Ice cream scoop helps). Sprinle the tops with sugar.
* Bake the muffins until the tops are golden brown and spring back when touched lightly, 15-25 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen edges and turn muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly.

Our 3 year Anniversary

So today is our 3 year wedding anniversary, and I am so happy I married the man I love more than anything. We decided 2 weekends ago, since we were going out for a friends birthday to use that opportunity for our anniversary dinner too. We went to Ichi Ban Japanese Teppenyaki for dinner. You know one of those places that the chef cooks your food in front of you. We went to one in November for my birthday and enjoyed it so much! If you haven't been to one, I definately recommend it, but be careful they can be pretty pricy. We had a blast this time too, especially because we were with friends. We took a trip to California this past weekend to visit family and celebrate our nephews 16th birthday, that's why we celebrated our anniversary early.

So today i just want to take this time to tell my husband that I think he is amazing in so many ways. Gabriel you helped me become who I am today, you have cheered me on, and you pick me up when I fall. You teach me new things everyday and you make me want to be a better person. You selfishly teach troubled kids and then come home and love on me. You love my kids as if they were your own and you forgive me for my faults. You guide this family and keep us all grounded. You always have a smile and can make almost anyone laugh. I love you more than you will ever know, and I hope to one day take care of you as you have taken care of me. Happy Anniversary love! I love you~

Weight loss

I know with all the cooking alot of us do, especially the baking and trying of new recipes, some of us have gained weight. And if your like me, I don't like working out. I don't know if it's so much the working out part or the getting all hot and sweating and looking a mess part! But not to long ago my husband and I decided to work out to burn off some weight that we have put on, my husband stuck with it where as I go every once in a while. But he started to take protein shakes to help him build muscles. So we visit our local GNC store and the associate tells us about this product called CLA (conjugated linoleic acid)that she swears by to help drop the pounds. I know another diet pill right?

Wrong!!! This is a supplement that you take along with your vitamins, and it looks just like a fish oil or any other softgel. And it doesn't make you jittery or feel like your heart is going to burst out of your chest. So my husband and I have been taking them for about 3 months now and I now swear by them. I had been stuck at a certain weight (not gonna say what weight) but once I started taking these little babies I was able to drop another 15-20 pounds, without the workouts. My husband has dropped about 20-25 and he works out aleast 3 times a week. Trust me when I say this ladies, I love them, I swear by them, I will never give them up, and I did nothing to change my diet or workouts! They are absolutely awesome!!!!

Bakerella is my Mentor….

http://www.bakerella.com/

So I just recently came across this absolutely amazing blog by Amy of Cake Pops. Now I am in no way an expert in the area of AMAZING but I must say that I do have a great opinion when it comes to this site! I love cake, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, all things sugary and no good for you but the hubs doesn’t eat alot of that stuff so I dont bake. About a year and a half ago we decided we wanted to start a cake business, you know making really cute cakes and cupcakes that are ever so popular right now, but we never put the work into it and just let the dream fizzle. I wish we would have stuck with it, who knows we might have a book out now too, just like Amy. Anywho, so as I said in my earlier post that lately I have had alot of free time so I was on the internet (facebook actually) and stopped by my friend Destiny’s page to see what she has been up to (more on her in a later post because she is absolutely amazing herself) and I happened across pictures of these cute little cake pops.

You know like lollipops but made out of cake. OMG!!!! I feel in love and had to find out where she got them. Turns out she had the link on her blog to Amy’s site: http://www.bakerella.com/ . Amy is so creative and somehow makes cake look exactly like all characters to a “T”. She has re-inspired my passion for cakes and cupcakes and I will definately try out some of the ideas she has on her site. I already have plans for different events this summer, and as I make some of these delicious little puppies I promise to post pictures. Hop on over to her site, I promise you will not regret it, ok maybe the weight gain but not the adventure! Happy eats and I hope to someday get to meet the genius behind the cake pops. Here’s to you Amy!

My blog stalk turned hobby

I have blog stalked now for a few years and I have picked up some of the coolest ideas and the best receipes so I thought why not share the wealth. I will be show casing a blog and the craft project/baking idea/make-up help everyweek with the hopes that someone new to blogland will benefit from it. I hope to make lots of new blog friends and I will be trying to re-create the awesomeness these ladies have provided for us all to enjoy. With a little help from above I too can become as crafty and cool as the ladies I will showcase. I hope you enjoy and while I am here I must plug my Hot Peppers blog, check it out he worked really hard on it: http://thisisourlife.us/