A Pinteresting Week : )

As I said in my last posting, I have had all this week off. That gave me plenty of time to plan out our meals and get back to cooking some good food : ) It feels so good to cook at home and not always spend money to eat out.

I had several recipes ''pinned'' on Pinterest that I've been wanting to try for a long time. So I took this week and went for it. And honestly, everything has turned out great! Not one nasty meal yet!! : ) Impressed?? I am. And Jason too I'm sure.

Jason often asks me if I find things ''pinteresting'' so that's how I got the title for this blog...FYI. What a nerd. 

One of the recipes I am sharing I made all on my own...a little Bri invention...otherwise the other  recipes are all from Pinterest...except for the last two...and I will explain that later.

So here we go...tested and approved!!
(and note: some of these meals are not gluten free...totally cheated this week...totally worth it! shhh..)

Monday

I started off Monday right with my own invention. Egg Bake Cups : ) Jason and I both like egg bake but we kind of got sick of it so I hadn't made it in awhile. I was thinking the other day...why not make single servings of it so you can have them quick and ready to go in the morning? Turns out...awesome idea! They are delicious and I'm pretty sure we are going to have to wrestle over the last one in the morning. : )

I just made 7 cups to start because I wasn't sure how they would taste but they ended up great!! So here's a recipe for approximately 7 cups : )

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs, whipped with milk
• 1/2 cup milk (low fat)
• 1/4 cup each of finely chopped red, green, yellow peppers, and yellow onions
• Simply Potatoes hashbrowns, enough to line the bottom of each muffin cup
• 4 slices of bacon, cooked
• shredded cheese, sprinkled on top of each cup

Approximate weight watchers points per cup: 3 (!!)

line the muffin cups with hashbrowns

chop peppers and onions, whip eggs and milk

chop up bacon

Fill muffin cups with egg mixture, top with bacon and cheese, cook on 350* for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through

enjoy!!

I'm super proud of this recipe...and will be repeating it frequently! : )

Later that night, I made ham and cheese sliders. I have made these before...so here's the link to the recipe...and here's the picture!!

these were yummy the first day and yummy as leftovers for lunch the next day!

Monday was a big recipe day...I also made these strawberry simple syrup cubes...you put them in lemonade to make it into fresh strawberry lemonade!! SO freaking good. Jason and I both loved them. You can use anywhere from 1-3 cubes in each glass. It does take a bit for them to melt but it's worth the wait!! We used Simply Lemonade and that was the perfect combo : ) They were pretty easy to make and we still have some left...here's the recipe : )

Tuesday

I don't know if this one can count as a ''new'' recipe since I have made it and posted about it before...but it was too freaking good not to and I did get it off Pinterest...so why not!! The best part is, Jason ended up not being able to come home for dinner that night but I was so excited about this meal that I made a single serving just for me!! SOOOO worth it!! So here's the link to the recipe and here's a picture!!

White Chicken Chili Enchiladas : )

Wednesday

Another yummy day. I made Tortellini Spinach Bake with Creamy Lemon Sauce...this was awesome. Jason said it may be his favorite thing I've ever made! I think that's how I felt about those enchiladas up there....but the tortellini was good too : ) : ) Click on the link for the recipe and here are the pictures:

so good!!

nom nom nom

Thursday

Tonight I made Asian Beef and Noodles...so freaking good. This was not a Pinterest recipe but it will be soon! It was actually something my mom made back when she did Weight Watchers when I was a kid. I always remembered it and meant to search for the recipe....and now I finally did. I found this blog posting from someone who knew the recipe and it tasted exactly as I remembered. It turned out super tasty and Jason was majorly impressed : ) It reminded me that I rarely cook with steak but I should do so more often. You for sure need to try this!! So easy and relatively cheap to make too.

and p.s. it goes really well with that strawberry lemonade I showed you way up top : )

And last but not least, I have been meaning to share something I made last week....so we will call this Friday....

Friday

I love Noodles and Company but was getting sick of paying nearly 10 bucks every time I went to get pasta fresca or pesto cavvatapi so I decided I would try to recreate pasta fresca at home : ) It turned out really yummy and I will definitely be trying it to see if I can re-create the pesto recipe soon! I found this recipe online and the only complaint I have is that it recommends making the ''fresca'' sauce in bulk beforehand....and that doesn't work out too well....the balsamic vinegar separates from the olive oil so it can make your dish much oilier and less balsamic-y than you'd like...so I'd recommend just putting a dash of each in there....turned out way better that way.  Also, we mixed in some shredded rotisserie chicken for the added protein...good call!
Here are the pictures...I stir fried one batch in regular noodles and the other in rice noodles for me : )

the toppings for the saute...yummmmmmmy

the sauce

both kinds of noodles...

stir frying it all together : )

my yummy meal!

So clearly it was a successful week in the kitchen. I am hanging up my proverbial apron and passing along the spatula to Jason for the weekend. We will be out on the boat and grilling it up this weekend. You can find me lounging in the sun with a whiskey ginger if you need me : )

Good times

I have had this week off work which has been amazingly awesome. Every time I work a weekend, I get 9 days off afterwards...how kick ass is that?!

I spent all this week planning/making some delicious meals...which I will make a separate post about very soon! I also worked out a ton and started Weight Watchers. I have done it before, and it's the best way for me to watch what I eat. I lost 3lbs in the first week so I can't complain : ) I need to hold myself more accountable so that I can get back to feeling confident and fit in my clothes. It is summer after all. But after just one week of intense working out and watching what I eat, I feel so much stronger already.

On Tuesday, I met up with my old high school friend Angela (who also happens to be my hair stylist). She has Tuesdays off so we met up at Lifetime in Lakeville and took one really hard workout class (thought I was going to die) and then Zumba. I had never done Zumba before...and I am not hip-movement inclined so I looked a tad foolish....but it was still really fun! Definitely felt it in my core! After that, we lounged by the pool and soaked in some sun. It was really nice to catch up with her : )

Last night after enjoying one of the yummy meals...Jas and I went to see Prometheus in theaters. It was good! I wasn't really that excited to see it but I knew Jason really wanted to so I went along for the ride...it really was good, and I'm glad we got to see it in the theater....it was definitely one of those movies that's super awesome on a big screen. Jason has been working really hard and late at work recently so it was a nice impromptu date night that I wasn't expecting...I loved it and I love him! : )

Tomorrow I finally get to see my friend Katie Kline who I haven't seen in forever it seems. We are going to a boxing class together and then going to lunch : ) It will be fun to hang out for a bit!!

I wanted to catch up on posting some photos from the last couple weeks too...I need to really get on top of things here!

Here goes:

A week ago Sunday, we celebrated Jason's step mom Angela's 50th birthday at Como Park. It was a really nice day...and who can beat Como? It of course holds a special place for me because Jas and I got married in the Conservatory there. Anyhoo, Jason's dad made some yummy bacon wrapped filets and we had some other delish food and good conversation. Here are some photos from that day from my point and shoot camera:

Me and Jas...white skirt ended up being a bad choice

Dan...throwing the baseball like a pro

hmmm...related much?

much better!

me and Angela

Brayden...grrr

Liam....got an owie on his head!

me and Liam

Liam was drawn to the white skirt...unfortunately for the skirt

just chillin'

hey you!

Chris and Liam

all the men! that's a lot of them! we were surely outnumbered!

brothers : )

Liam

what a ham

A week ago Monday I drove up to Alexandria. My college roomie Lydia was in town from Portland visiting her parents and I hadn't seen her since our wedding. It's so sad that it's been that long but we are both pretty bad about calling each other so that didn't lend itself to maintaining our friendship very well. Honestly though, it was an amazing time. She's one of those friends that I can be away from for a long time and still get along really well with. We had the best day. We talked, went boating, had drinks, swam, went out for dinner on the lake, had a bonfire, stayed up til 4 am and then had a sleepover. It was truly awesome. I miss her already! She has a hilarious personality and I know I can just be my weird self around her and she doesn't care because she is just as weird! : ) As she said perfectly...''it was good for my soul to hang out again''....so true. I am looking into visiting her in Portland this Fall. If our schedules align I am definitely going. I would LOVE that! Here are a few pics from that day...I didn't take many...also on my point and shoot camera:

her parents' backyard...very jealous!

we boated ALL day!

my chauffeur

we tried a variety of flavors of Skinnygirl : ) yum yum

a sunset cruise on Lydia's parents wooden boat...so awesome! and me wearing her dad's sweatpants and shirt he borrowed me...thanks Bruce!

Lydia's mom and dad...they rock

gorgeous

: )

so pretty!

night night!

During that day of boating with Lydia I texted Jason and told him I kind of missed boating. This was all the weaponry he needed to convince me to give our boat one last chance. And last weekend, I got an on-call on Saturday night so we took the boat out....and now that it's fixed, it runs like a beaut. So for now, we are going to keep it for awhile and see how it goes : ) Everyone (or thing) deserves a few extra chances right?? Barring any issues (I have knocked on wood), we will be out on it all this coming weekend... : ) Should be great weather too!!

Alright. I think that's all I have to catch up on for now...but wait for a fabulous recipe extravaganza posting very soon....and also early next week...a newborn session!!! I love those babies!!