Recipe Reviews

So far this week I have tried new recipes every night.  It has been kind of fun.  The rest of the week is easy dinners, so I thought I would share a review of the recipes I made. 

Sunday:
Skinny Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy
 It was nice to lighten Salisbury steak up a bit doing by half ground turkey and half ground beef.  It was a classic meat and potatoes kind of dinner, but not as many calories.  I would make this again.  We cut the recipe in half but next time I would cut it into fourths.

Monday:
Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Avocado and Cumin-Lime Dressing This recipe was good, but I wouldn't make it as a main dish again.  This is more like a chip dip I think and would be good to take to a party.  Scott and I decided that it could be part of a main dish if you added meat and turned it into a sort of taco salad, adding lettuce.  The dressing is a little strong, so if you make it taste it along the way as you add the dressing.

Tuesday:
Asian Flank Steak Skewers
Since the meat in this recipe had to marinade, Scott was nice to get it started for me.  The recipe was easy enough and was good.  Only mistake I made was - when I copied/pasted the recipe for some reason I left off the ginger.  So I think that could have made it even better if we had the ginger in there.  Scott added a tablespoon of sugar to make the marinade a little sweeter also.  It was fun to make the skewers and they cooked very quickly on our grill pan.  We served them with rice and baked parmesan broccoli, and it was a delicious dinner.

After dinner last night we had extra rice so I decided to make rice pudding.  It was delicious!  See the recipe below. 

Creamy Rice Pudding (from this website - I left out the raisins)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup uncooked white rice, or 1 1/2 cups leftover cooked rice
2 cups milk, divided
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
If you are using leftover rice skip this step:  In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve warm or chilled.  Serve plain, sprinkled with cinnamon, with fruit, etc.

Progress

-10

I don't want to brag but... today I hit my 10 pound mark in my weight loss!  I was really excited when I got on the scale this morning.  Scott can vouch for this.  It has taken me 10 months which is a really long time... but I'm glad I have reached this point even if it has taken that long.  My clothes are fitting better and I feel good.  The secret?  Counting calories and exercise!  It really is that obvious and simple.  I also like apps on my phone that make it a little more fun tracking progress.  As I mentioned before my faves are:  myfitnesspal (for tracking food and exercise) and nike+ (to use on my runs).  I have another 4.4 pounds to go until I reach my goal weight.  Here's to continuing on!

P.S. I decided now is the time for me to learn to take care of myself, so that's what I have been focusing on.  I'm sorry if these kinds of posts are boring... it helps me to stay motivated to talk about it. 

Meal Plan for 1/29 - 2/4

One of my goals this year is to be better at meal planning.  My sister Amber has been posting her meal plans on her blog.  I really like seeing what other people make for dinner to get ideas.  I was talking to her on the phone last night and she mentioned that she might stop posting her meal planning on her blog.  Amber keep posting!  It's my motivation to start doing it too:)

Below is my meal plan for next week.  When I try new recipes I will let you know if they are worth trying or not:)

Sunday: 

• Skinny Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy (new recipe)
• Mashed Potatoes
• Corn
• Salad

Monday: 

• Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Avocado and Cumin-Lime Dressing (new recipe)

Tuesday: 

• Egg Sandwiches

Wednesday:

• Asian Flank Steak Skewers (new recipe)
• Rice
• Broccoli

Thursday: 

• Leftovers

Friday:

• French Dip Sandwiches
• Potato Wedges
• Zucchini

Saturday:

• Eating Out   

MyFitnessPal

If you haven't heard of MyFitnessPal, you have to check it out!  If you have an iPhone/Android phone, it's a free app.  You can also go to the website http://www.myfitnesspal.com/.  Scott showed it to me when I was trying to find a free way to track my exercise and food.  I have been using it for a while now, though I was slacking for a bit, I'm back on board.  Check it out!  If you join, you can add me as a friend (just search for ashleynstevenson under user name).  And if you have been using it, but have slacked like me, come back and we can support each other!  I'm 5 pounds away from my goal weight and I decided I'm going to be serious to get the rest of it off.  I love when other people share things that they find and love, so I thought I would return the favor:)

Falling in Slow Motion

Last night I was heading to a Relief Society activity up at the church.  I got to the subway stop and as usual was trying to get my metro card out of my wallet while running down the stairs.  While in the process of pulling out my card, I caught the step weird and began to fall.  I I literally felt like I was falling in slow motion.  Every once and a while my foot would catch another step, but I kept falling.  The only thought that kept running through my head was, "I'm going to fall on my face... I'm going to fall on my face!"  It felt like there was nothing I could do but continue to fall.  The fall that seemed like forever ended when I fell into the arms of an older guy about to head up the stairs.  I was shaken up by the whole thing and embarrassed.  So when he asked if I was okay the only thing that came out of my mouth was, "Sorry... Sorry... I think I tripped."  I also think I mustered a thanks, and I heard him yell, "be careful!" as I ran down the next set of stairs.  It was an embarrassing moment, but I was grateful that the person was there to keep me from falling on my face:)  All I ended up with was a little scratch on my finger - which probably happened on the wall as I was trying to grab onto the rail but missed.  Thinking about it later, I laughed about it because it is kind of a funny story.  Embarrassing, but funny.

Apple Crisp

At work on Friday, I was given a basket of apples that an attorney didn't want.  When I got home Scott and I decided that apple crisp sounded good.  I decided to try a different recipe than I normally make. 

I used Pioneer Woman's recipe for Pear Crisp and then just put in apples instead.  It was delicious!  I was hesitant to put in the pecans, because I'm not a real nut person.  Scott convinced me to put them in and the pecans made the recipe!  Here's the recipe with my changes:

Apple Crisp

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 40 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 4
4 large Granny Smith apples
2/3 cups Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Topping: 
1-1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
1/3 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 cup Pecans, Very Finely Chopped (Don't leave these out!)
1 stick Butter, Melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel, core, and dice apples. Place into a bowl and stir together with 2/3 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Stir together. Drizzle melted butter gradually, stirring with a fork as you go until all combined.

Pour apples into a baking dish; top with crumb topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Place pan on top rack of oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Morning Run

This morning I went on a run with Maddie.  We usually go at 5:30, but this morning we went at 6:30.  We ran across the George Washington Bridge and then we turned around to run back.  This was our view the whole way home!  It was a gorgeous sunrise!  Thanks Maddie for stopping to take a picture. 

P.S. It was also 40 degrees outside this morning - perfect run:)

Second Utah Trip in December! (Christmas 2011)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we flew to Utah for my brother's wedding.  It wasn't too hard leaving because we knew we would be back in a couple of weeks for Christmas. 

Disclaimer:  I have no pictures in this post because we just enjoyed ourselves and forgot to take pictures:)  I will try to be better in the new year with pictures. 

Scott flew to Utah a few days before me and there were a few reasons for this:
1.  Scott was done with school, and I still had to work. 
2.  Flights were a LOT cheaper on that day. 

So since Scott had flexibility with his scheduled he went early.  I was very anxious to get to Utah so I was excited when I finally got to go. 

It was great to spend a lot of time with our families!  Sometimes it is very hard for me to live so far away, so it's nice to be able to visit. 

Our trip went by so fast!  We celebrated all the holidays,  I went to exercise classes at the gym, we ate a lot of good food, did lots of bowling, played games, did karaoke, played with the nieces/nephews, went shopping, saw some friends, my little sister Courtney turned 17, we talked to my brother Cody on his mission, and our family friend Patti was baptized.  It was a great trip! 

I was disappointed that there was no snow...though maybe it was for the better because we never had to scrape off a car or drive in it! 

Our trip back to New York wasn't as fun, being delayed a few hours.  But we made it back and are now trying to revert back to real life:)

Christmas Letter 2011

Cameron and Marielsy's Wedding

My little brother Cameron married Marielsy on December 2nd.  We flew out for the wedding and it was a beautiful day.  Here are a few pictures:

*these aren't the professional photos, just ones I stole from facebook*

Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving, we decided to get up really early to go to the Macy's Parade.  We left at 5:30 am hoping to get there by 6:00 am to stake out our spot.  The subway ended up taking forever, so we got there later than we were hoping.  We still had a great time though!  Here are a few pictures:

After the parade we had an early Thanksgiving dinner hosted by our friends, the Thomson's.  It was different being away from our Utah family, but it was also nice to have friends to spend it with.  I am lazy and am going to link to Maddie's Thanksgiving posts:)  If you want to read about our Thanksgiving dinner read here and here.  It was a very nice Thanksgiving.

Catch Up!

I am going to play catch up - since I haven't blogged for a while.  I am hoping to get caught up so when I make my "blogging resolution" in January, I won't be too far behind.  Sorry these posts should have been done a while ago, life just got busy!

There to clean up my messes...

One thing I learned early on in our marriage is that when I make a mess Scott is the sane person to clean it up.  I get all frantic, and I freeze.  This happens when I drop something and it breaks, spill something, cut myself, etc. 

This was no exception last night when I was painting my nails... I decided that I really wanted to paint my nails black.  So I was using our coffee table to hold my stuff and as a surface to paint my nails.  I got distracted while I was talking to Scott and my nail polish flung to the ground landing on our rug, spilling black nail polish. 

I freaked out, not knowing what to do, spouting off about how we needed to get a new rug.  I frantically was telling Scott to google how to get it out.  I'm lucky to have a very handy husband that at times is better at being domestic than I am... He jumped into action, and started blotting up the nail polish.  Then making a diluted acetone solution, and using some Oxyclean to finish the job.  Ta da - you would never know that had happened when you look at our rug now! 

Scott is amazing, and we balance each other out.  When I'm freaking out he's calm which is definitely what I need.  I just wanted to share this story, because it shows one reason why I'm grateful for Scott.  November is all about being grateful right?

My Missionary Bro

My little brother Cody recovered from his broken foot and headed back out on his mission on November 1st!  He is now on the big island of Hawaii.  I am getting jealous now that it's been getting colder here...  We received our first email from him, and he sounds happy!  We even have a picture to prove it:)  I am proud of him and know that he will do a great job preaching the gospel. 

Utah Trip August 2011

I am so behind in blogging, it's kind of overwhelming to start again!  I never documented my Utah trip from August.  I flew out to Utah for my brother Cody's mission farewell.  It was a great and emotional trip sending my brother off. 

A lot has happened since then....  Cody broke his foot in the MTC while playing basketball, and is now home until November 1st.  He will get to go out to Hawaii then and he is super excited!  It was hard for him not to be able to go to Hawaii with his group, but is being patient in waiting for his foot to recover. 

Also since my trip, my brother Cameron got engaged!  See I said a lot has happened:)  He will be getting married December 2nd, so another Utah trip is in the works.  We will see family a lot in December with the wedding and Christmas.

Back to my trip... here are a few pictures - enjoy!

I made this dress for Jovie and finished just in time to give to her in Utah!  I think she looks cute in it, but I may be biased because she is my niece and I made the dress:)

This was the morning before dropping off at the MTC.

 Me and my "little" brother:)

 A cute picture of Cody with Canon and Keller, all wearing cute suit coats.

 We went to J-Dawgs for Cody's "last meal."

 Picture of the siblings (minus Amber) across from the MTC.

 Saying goodbye, yeah it was really hard, notice the sunglasses...

Drop-off at the MTC, much better than previously having to sit through a video. 

Dinner with my family before I had to fly back to NYC.  It was nice to see everyone before I had to leave.  Especially these cute kiddos:)  Thanks Amber for having such cute and fun kids! Here are some pics of the nieces and nephews on my side: 

Me with Taesya

 Me with Jovie

 Taesya

 Canon

 Jovie

 Canon, Taesya, and Keller

 Keller

It was nice to see my family and be there for Cody's farewell.  Cody was a great missionary in the MTC, and will be a great missionary in Hawaii when he goes out in November!  I'm excited to hear all about his adventures!