Category: real life

A New Year

1 Comment

It’s the second day of a new year. A new year full of motivation, hope, and inspiration. Oh how I’m in desperate need of all those things and so excited about them. This isn’t the first time I took an accidental two and a half month break, but probably the first time I’ve had real reasons. Warning – sad update, but do not despair, hopefulness will come at the end.

Since I last blogged, on October 11th, a lot has happened. My dad’s health began to decline rapidly. On October 14th, my favorite day, I was blessed to be surrounded by loving friends all day. It made the news of finding out a transplant for my dad wasn’t an option and no treatments would work. The news we received that day was that there could be months, weeks, or days left in his life. It was exactly one month and four days later that we lost him.

November was HARD! On the 6th he was hospitalized and started to lose memory. My brother and I got there on November 7th. We sat in the hospital waiting, praying, and crying until the 11th. The real world demanded work, so we had to go back. On Sunday November 18th, we got the call. Again I was blessed to be surrounded by loving, incredible friends and support that day. His memorial was the day before Thanksgiving. It was hard, but most of the time I felt better than I thought I would.

Then came December. December was way worse than I even knew it could be! For the rest of my life I’ll feel the urge to hug anyone, stranger or not, when I find out they’ve lost a parent, spouse, or child. I wish we could all get together every year before Christmases without our loved ones to hug each other and talk about the ones we miss and the reality of how hard it is that the “Most Wonderful Time of Year” for most people is different for us now. It really is something you can’t understand until you’ve been through it and it just plain sucks! Again, so thankful for friends and family that give hugs, read negative texts, deal with bad moods, help clean apartments, fold clothes, give gifts, don’t get mad about unanswered phone calls, and take me in so I’m not alone even if I think I want to be.

And now it’s January! I have officially changed my favorite holiday to New Years. It’s so full of hope, motivation, inspiration, and renewal. It truly is a breath of fresh air. Of course I know I’ll still have sad break down moments, but January and a new year feels like the sun coming out after a big scary tornado warning or hurricane landfall (can you tell I’m from Mississippi?). I’m [hopefully] getting chosen for boot camp that starts at the end of January to lose the weight I put on while I’ve done nothing but eat out or eat holiday food and leftovers since October plus more. Also, back to meal planning! Back to blogging healthy recipes (and meal plans). However, I can’t promise not to blog some of the unhealthy hits I made for the holiday though. You didn’t think I stopped cooking totally did you?!

I discovered one thing I can count on, no matter how sad I get, I will still cook impressive things for other people. I might be eating frozen pizzas and way too much drive thru food, but I’ll make three delicious, impressive Wintermint cakes in one week and too many batches of poured icing sugar cookies to count.

And so… HOPE! I’m full of that stuff (hope) right now. So full of it that I actually made realistic achievable New Years resolutions. I even came up with objectives for my goals. This is serious guys! Of course I’ll share them with you, because I’m all share-y like that.

1. Wait for it… Blog more! That one is for you. And me! Makes me feel good. How? Plan it! Use Mondays off to prep posts. I did 53 posts in 2012. I am aiming for at least 100 for 2013.
2. Exercise – Boot Camp will help me achieve this!
3. Lose weight – Boot Camp, blogging healthy recipes, meal planning.
4. Paint – This is the only one I don’t have a plan for. I just haven’t done it in years.
5. Read more – Make a list of books I want to read.
6. Listen to the Bible in a year – Downloaded the app last night!
7. Get new glasses – Stresses me out to pay for the eye doctor and glasses in the same visit. I’ll make an appointment for one pay check and get glasses the next!
8. Call my Nanny more – I just set a reminder in my phone.
9. Save more – Set aside $50 every pay check (in hopes of maybe going to France to visit my cousin AND go to France).

Last but not least, I found a verse that is my most important and overall goal for 2013.

10. Psalm 145:2 Everyday I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. – Talk to Jesus, read His words for me, and worship Him through singing (privately, not just during song time at church).

I really am so hopeful about 2013. My only New Years resolution for 2012 was to put myself out there and go on dates. I did it, but it wasn’t good for me other than knowing it’s better to wait for a Godly man to pursue me than have dating experiences. So here’s to 2013!

Did you make any New Years resolutions?

100th Post (AND Blog News)

2 Comments

Remember that time I promised via social media that I was posting the 100th post the next day? That was September 28th. Unless you’re worse at math than me, you’ve probably figured out that October 9th is not the day after September 28th. I’m going to go on record and say that if I ever say I’m posting something the next day, inevitably something will happen and there is a 98% chance that I won’t follow through. I don’t mean to make myself a liar! I promise I’ll try not to say that tomorrow word again. Would it make it better if I told you that on the day that would have been the real “tomorrow,” I made 6 loaves of banana bread?

Now that I got another batch of those familiar apologetic words out there, we’ll move on. This is my 100th post! I’m not bringing you a recipe today, but I am bringing you news. As of today, this very day, Kasia’s Kitchen has over 16,000 views! That’s a really big deal to me. I never thought I’d make it to even 100 views and now I average about 50 views a day. Who knew?! I also never imagined I’d actually write 100 posts. I did! And I have so many more to write.

As I started getting more serious about my blog you may have noticed a few things. I got a professional design! Love it. Owls, argyle, pink and cooking utensils. If you can wrap me up in a blog this lady did it. My friend Jonathan also made a logo and header for me! Why do I need a logo and header you ask? Because I made a Kasia’s Kitchen Facebook page! Right after I post this post, I’ll be inviting you all to “like” my page. Right now this really is just a silly blog where I get out my needs to cook, ramble, and blog all at once, but who knows what God can do. Lots of known food bloggers have Facebook pages for their blogs, so I thought it was a good practical easy step. Like me! https://www.facebook.com/kasiaskitchenblog or you can click the Facebook button on the blog under my social media section over to the right.

Another cool thing you may have noticed is the Recipe Index. This is totally my favorite part of my blog redesign! It was one of the main requests I had for the design. It lists all the recipes on the blog in categorical order for easy access! Even I use it when I’m looking for recipes to recook. I also added a little About Me section as well. Another thing, if you read often but don’t follow through the Google friends follow bar, please do! It helps me have a chance at being considered as a “real” food blogger in the likes of all the greats out there in the food blogging community. 🙂 You can also leave comments! I love comments. I’d love to answer your comments. Mostly, I just love you! Whomever you are reading these words, I love you.

Again, just a silly blog, but I do have so dreams that could somehow one day be connected to this blog and maybe God will use it! I dream of getting catering jobs. I’d love it! I dream of one day having a cook book with some learned life lessons mixed in. I very distantly dream of having a bakery that caters, serves lunch, coffee, sweet tea, jarred things like pickles and jams, and serves seasonal goodies along with the norms we’d serve. I did say distant dream, distant meaning I’m aware it’s an unlikely dream, but what is life without the ability to dream?! Blogging for you, your likes, your follows, your comments, it makes me feel like my dreams can happen and I take this 100th post to thank you with words. Words are powerful, but still just words. If I could bake each and every one of you something yummy to eat as a thank you, please know I would!

I close this 100th mile marker post with three things.

1. A quick how to – How to Use Frozen Bananas to Make Banana Bread

Did you know this?! I heard it from many sources, but I froze one once, defrosted it, it got all squishy and I FREAKED! I threw it away thinking it was a ruined, rotten, gross, slimy mess. I goggled “how to use frozen bananas to make banana bread” and didn’t come up with any good results. I finally asked the friends who said they did it and it worked! I had 12 frozen bananas and made one big loaf and 5 mini loaves of banana bread with them. Here’s what I learned:

  1. Collect browning/spotting bananas in the freezer, peeling in tact and on.
  2. When you’re in a bakey mood, take the bananas out and let them thaw for a bit in bowls. You could just thaw them on the counter, but they will get a little juicy and I didn’t want to clean that up. I put the three needed per each recipe in a bowl. 
  3. Once you can press on the banana and it feels squishy (and maybe a little gross) they are ready to be squeezed out. Use kitchen scissors to cut the end of the banana off, just enough of an opening to squeeze out the banana goo. 
  4. SQUEEZE. You’re basically just going to milk all the gooey banana goodness out into the bowl, mash, and then use in any banana bread recipe like you would any bananas. 

2. A short list – Culinary Firsts Accomplished Recently

Apparently knowing I had made it to 100 posts inspired me and made me brave. I tried a few culinary firsts in the week or so.
  • Homemade Chocolate Sauce (Never buying bottled again! Probably a lie, but still, it’s easy!)
  • Homemade Pasta (Pumpkin Ravioli, tonight! Pasta isn’t nearly as hard as I thought it was.)
  • Pecan Pie (Not sure why this has always scared me. It’s just one of those things that only grandmothers make!)

3. A Dedication – For My Dad

I dedicate this 100th post to my daddy. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you know that he’s going through some significant health issues. I pray, hope, and believe every day on his behalf. I have full confidence that God will bring healing, whether it’s to my dad and his health, or to the family members who love him as we heal from the grief that comes. Even though my dad doesn’t understand computers or blogs, he’s always believed in me in everything, even this blogging thing. He calls it my cookbook and always asks me about it. He compliments my cooking like no other and supports me in everything I do. I’d like to believe his calling my blog my cookbook is a glimpse into the future of the cookbook I have that will also be dedicated to him. I just hope he’s still here to see it. I cherish every moment and memory. I remember knowing I loved cooking for people and wanted to continue to explore this love when I made one of my first cakes with pretty accents for his birthday. It was 4 or 5 years ago and it was a chocolate covered German Chocolate cake, his favorite. He still talks about it to this day!

In closing, I love him. I love cooking. I love baking. I love blogging. And I love you. Thanks for being a faithful follower and reader. 


Pin It

Real Life – Take 327

Leave a comment

Can I be real? Like super honest, spill all, embarrassingly real? I keep saying I’m going to post and then I avoid it because I’m ashamed to admit that there hasn’t be a meal plan in two weeks! And there isn’t one this week yet either. My meal plan looks like this…

Sunday: 

Eat a cheapo brand lean microwaveable frozen meal that cost 88 cents at 9:30 pm because I forgot to eat while making 150 cake truffles until 3:00 am.

Monday:

Snack on leftover Chick-Fil-A nuggets (from a free meal coupon) and lots and lots of cookies from KT (former tribe aka a sorority if you aren’t from MC world).

Tuesday:

Eat at Chick-Fil-A (from a free meal coupon) again because I forgot to do something with that frozen chicken and was on call and handled an hour and a half long incident.

Wednesday:

Eat more food not cooked by me at a campus restaurant on an RA one on one biweekly date.

Thursday:

Do something with that frozen chicken.

Friday:

PAY DAY! BUY FOOD! PLAN MEALS! Or really… eat out because I won’t actually be able to buy groceries until Saturday.

Saturday: 

Groceries! Cook something with newly acquired groceries.

Why the lack of creativity, motivation and mass amounts of Chick-Fil-A you ask? Well a few things.

A. I’m totally out of money. I accidentally got carried away buying cookie cutters and forgot I needed that money for gas to go out of town this past weekend and to buy massive amounts of supplies to make 150 cake balls (and other aforementioned baked goods) then had to dip into grocery money to purchase outrageously expensive gas to travel. I also got a little carried away buying things for my way over the top picnic to celebrate fall-like weather.

B. My life feels totally disorderly! I moved into my apartment at the end of July and life has been so hectic that I’m still not totally settled! Never fear, all the kitchen stuff was settled right away, but my room, hang up clothes, shoes, wall hangings, desk, and closet things are a disorderly mess. I know it’s just one thing, but this one thing makes me feel like nothing in my life is in control or balanced! Remember you agreed to read my embarrassingly real post, this is real! I’m a little OC (as in OCD without the D). When something is off balance, I feel a little crazy and overwhelmed and under-motivated.

C. I forget that I’m a grown up, you know I’m 29, almost 30. And sometimes I do crazy things like stay up all night with 19-21 year olds to win free Chick-Fil-A coupons for a year. Thus the massive amounts of Chick-Fil-A splurges and a really BAD (read unhealthy) back up plan when I don’t have meals planned!

Here’s the good news. Besides the fact that I have a wonderful job and the best RAs who love me and each other. I mean look… Even when we’re being silly and holding flowers for a pointless picture, our hands form an unknowing heart! But, God has blessed me with a really good friend that I can be way more real than I even am in this silly dramatic post. She understands me, life, our common life stage, and God pretty well. She reminds me that it’s okay that I’m a little crazy and don’t have it all together. She gets that my brain works in an overwhelmed all or nothing way and helps me see the big picture instead of all the little details that freak me out. She helps me plan baby steps that I need to make to get orderly in one thing so I can feel good about the rest and remember that I’m a lot better at life than I let Satan coax me into believe I am. So we made baby step plans! Saturday we FINISH settling my apartment so I can feel in order and be balanced! I know it sounds crazy, but this one thing will remotivate me to eat healthy, meal plan, exercise and spend time doing things that make me healthier, like spending time with Jesus and making time for myself. It’s officially on Google Calendar! That’s pretty solid.

Now that we got that out of the way, I feel better about posting other things that aren’t meal plans until next Sunday (or Monday morning) when a meal plan WILL appear!


Pin It

The Week Baking Took Over

Leave a comment

I promise I haven’t forgotten my vow to come back! I have the pictures taken and in folders ready to be edited for so many things! Crock Pot Apple BBQ Chicken, Make Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches, Peach Cobbler Trifle, Fake Fried Okra, Single Serving Blueberry Cobbler, Pumpkin Blondies, Pumpkin Fluff, THE BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies in the world, Pumpkin Bread Pudding & Homemade Caramel Sauce, and Philly Cheese steak Sloppy Joes. I even have some DIY project pictures and how to posts lined up (magnetic chalkboard memo boards with DIY chalkboard paint). I promise! I haven’t forgotten. August 1st until about mid to late September is the busiest, most hectic, craziest time of my job/life EVER. In addition to nearly 4 weeks of training, school starting, students moving in, training and working out the kinks with RAs, and more, the non profit women’s ministry team I am on has our big two day event in September every year.

Okay, okay. You get it. I’ve been busy. But I always make time for a meal plan even in the midst of business right? So why not last week. Well… in the name of baking, I boycotted cooking. I only ate frozen things. From last Sunday to this Sunday I baked Pumpkin Butterscotch Blondies, Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes, Mamaw’s Strawberry Cake, Strawberry Cupcakes filled with White Chocolate Strawberry Ganache topped with Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing and adorned with candy pearls, AND 150 Strawberry White Chocolate Cake Truffles. Seriously.

The cake was devoured before I could take a picture, but it existed too! And though I’m not eating quite as healthy as I should, don’t think I made all of these things for myself! The blondies were for a fall picnic with friends. The cinnamon roll cupcakes were part of a cheer up gift for an RA. The cake was for an RA’s birthday. The strawberry cupcakes were part of teaching my best friend to make fancy cupcake, per her request. Let me interject to say, they were my most favorite cupcake ever! They had a vintage antique look. She iced them all! I was quite impressed with her first time icing skills which are already better than mine. I adorned them with pearls and it was fun! The never ending cake truffles are for my former social tribe (for non-MC folk – think sorority. Their big rush part (aka KT Coke Party) is tonight. Their colors are pink and silver so I made strawberry cake, white chocolate coating, pink drizzle, and silver gem sprinkles. Later today I will post a meal plan and then hopefully a few recipes posts this week!

Adding this picture just for fun and because seeing my Macy, her little sister Ellie, their parents, the ladies who I get to serve on Total Woman U with, and my Slidell church family was the highlight of my month and so good for my soul!


Pin It

Perfectionism & Oatmeal Whoopie Pies

Leave a comment
I have a confession…
I’m not perfect.
I’m just not. I try to be, even though I shouldn’t try to be and in no way can I ever be. I struggle with perfectionism. It’s true. 
I just want to say out loud that I’m not perfect. I also want to say that I’m not always okay with not being perfect, but I’m trying to be.
In case you didn’t know, not every thing I cook comes out so well. It just doesn’t. One time I tried to make a homemade angel food cake and it looked far more like a flat frisbee than a fluffy angel cloud. 
Sometimes I drink coffee in the afternoon and stay up too late (like right now as I write this at 1AM). Sometimes I forget to put an item in my budget and it messes up my money plans. I’m really bad at calling friends. I’m even worse at sending letters. I freak out a little when plans change. I leave shoes on the floor. I lock my keys in my car. I rarely iron my clothes. 
So I just want you to know, even though I probably come across as trying to look like I have it all together with my meal plans, color coded Google calendars, documents, labels and folders, hair accessories and organized cabinets and refrigerator, I don’t. Fact – it’s hard for me to admit that! 
I know you don’t expect me to be perfect. But the beasts called perfectionism and the enemy tell me that you do, society does, the world does, Christians do, and the church does. I need to say that I know you’ll still like me despite being not perfect and not having it all together. 
I know that I’m far more disappointed that I didn’t post my meal plan on Sunday as promised than you are. However, I do promise it’s coming. The meals are planned and tomorrow morning (probably when you will read this) I will make my grocery list and shop. I have no good reason other than lack of motivation for writing for not posting. 
Sometimes motivation is so free flowing. Other times it’s just not. And sometimes it hits at random times in the wee hours of the morning. I’m encouraged. I’m reading a devotion book recommended by a dear friend called It’s a Wonderful (Imperfect) Life. Tonight I read, 
“God isn’t the one who pressures us. He wants us to delight in our life and work – whatever it is at this season. Satisfaction and enjoyment are God’s gift to us.”
Through church and this book God is tugging at my heart. Tugging for me to surrender, to yield, to release, to trust, and to allow him to change things in me. I’m not perfect. It won’t happen overnight. But I’m encouraged and this burst of encouragement again reminded me of the gifts and desires God has given me. Cooking, baking, writing, and blogging to name a few. And thus… inspiration. 🙂 Confessional inspiration? 
Of course, I can’t leave you empty handed. I probably should post an imperfect recipe to go along with this post, but I’m not gonna lie. This recipe is pretty darn great. Can we call it imperfect because it could be healthier? We’ll go with that. 
I really do cook healthy most days. I promise I do. Even when feeding small groups of people or people who I feed all the time, I do make “healthy” desserts and they never complain (like the healthy pineapple upside down cupcakes I’ll post soon). But… every once in a while for a special event (or because I had a bad day or just because), I make a non-altered (or minimally altered) recipe. 
Monday night my apartment hosted a Dips & Dessert night for my current RAs and new RAs for next year. The current girls brought either a dip or a dessert. I made both. The dip was my go to, no biggie. The dessert however, total biggie. As in deal. Not size. They were actually quite small little bite sized pieces of heaven. 
Oatmeal Whoppie Pies
Recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman. 
Ingredients: 
For cookies: 
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softended
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup egg beaters
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons boiling water
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups quick oats
For filling:
  • Marshmallow cream 
Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream brown sugar, butter, and shortening. Add eggs and egg beaters. Mix. Add salt, cinnamon, and baking powder and mix. Mix baking soda and boiling water. (I’ve never done this before, but the Pioneer Woman said to, so I did. I didn’t notice a difference, but the cookies were good.) Add baking soda and water mixture to the bowl and mix. Add flours and oatmeal and mix well.
Scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets in rounded heaping teaspoons. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer to a cooling rack, and let the cookies cool completely. 

Okay let’s talk about filling. Do as she did and not as I did unless you want to be sticky and get an arm workout! She used pre-made marshmallow cream, which would have been MUCH easier. I had a bag of marshmallows I wanted to use, so I made a marshmallow cream by melting down the marshmallows and corn syrup over a double boiler. One of my coworker friends, Christine, said she liked it better that normal marshmallow cream, which she normally doesn’t like. If you want to do it my way it’s 1 bag of marshmallow to 6 tablespoons of light corn syrup. When I make these again, I’ll probably actually make real homemade marshmallow cream from egg whites. 

If you use the pre-made stuff, just scoop on careful teaspoons full (I always type teaspoon fulls first – without fail). I tried scooping and ended up wearing far more of the filling than the cookies. I messily filled a gallon ziplock with the homemade marshmallow cream and piped a dollop on the cookies. 
Step Almost Done – Sandwich the cookies and the messy stuff. The End – EAT & ENJOY! And probably share. I lost count of how many this made, but over 30. 

And then…

Leave a comment

And then I acquired walking pneumonia, which turned into real pneumonia. And then I thought I was better and thanks to my nifty $100 antibiotic, I got thrush and couldn’t swallow. BUT NOW… thrush is getting better and I have recipes from yesterday and today to post. WITH PICTURES. I did fully intend to do the aforementioned posting, but yeah… Life happens. Stay tuned! And never, never get pneumonia.

Something New

Leave a comment

Hello friends and readers who have probably given up on me and my ability to post. Yes, it’s been almost another month with no posts! Have I been making fabulous healthy (mostly) meals? Yes! Have I posted them? No! Have I taken pictures of them to post them? Some… Some of them were too tasty for me to take a break long enough to photograph.

I really am trying to be proactive at being a better blogger! I even read an article on food blogging tips that a wonderful friend gave me. I’m gonna start by committing to twice a week. At least one recipe post a week and the other could also include a recipe or some healthy eating/planning tips, possibly a favorite new product or snack, or maybe a DIY project! On the non-recipe post days I’ll probably share my two week meal plan (which consists of 5 meals for 2 weeks usually) and if there are any recipes from that list you want, just let me know!

I have learned the value of friends, support, and community in everything, EVEN the eating healthy weight loss journey. I love love love getting ideas from people. I know I’m gifted in the meal planning area and I know I need to stop keeping my ideas to myself! I promise to share more. We need each other! I’m back on Weight Watchers and pushing forward on the journey to be healthier and in the process smaller. I, a lover of food, cannot do this healthy eating thing unless it’s creative and yummy. Weekly I discover new amazing, healthy, yummy thing.

So today, to kick off my attempt at being a better blogger I share a simple sweet fix recipe.

______________________________

Mini Microwave Minute Cake
This is a super easy, versatile healthy cake fix! Our Weight Watchers coach told us you can mix an angel food cake with any box cake mix in a Ziploc and mix 1/3 a cup with 3 tablespoons of water for a single serving, sweet tooth satisfying, cake that is only 5 points plus! Great info that I of course ran with and made my own. I used an orange cake mix and the angel food, poured in the Ziploc, shook and shook a little more for extra fun and calorie burning and keep it in my pantry for a quick non-guilty indulgence! I keep frozen peaches (the no added sugar kind) on hand and it’s strawberry season…. Perfect zero point cake toppings! I thawed 1/2 cup of peaches in the microwave and stirred in some sliced strawberries and Splenda. I let that get all happy and juicy while I mixed and fake baked my cake. I used a combination of unsweetened applesauce and water instead of all water. Even though there are very limited ingredients and it could be a one bowl dish, I wanted to turn mine out and not eat it in the dish, so I mixed mine separately and then poured it into a Pam sprayed ramekin, like this one that I got in a 4 pack set from Wal-mart for super cheap. You may want to put a napkin under your dish because mine overflowed a bit. I topped with a 1/2 tablespoon of fat free sweet condensed milk for an extra point (SO worth it). I poured over the happy juicy strawberries and peaches, then added 2 tablespoons of fat free cool whip (0 points) on the fruit. SO satisfying. 6 points total and a NICE portion! 
______________________________
For my version: 
  • 1 Duncan Hines Orange Supreme Cake Mix (or cake mix of your choice)
  • 1 Betty Crocker Angel Food Cake Mix
Mixed and stored in air tight container. 
  • 1/3 of cake mixture
  • 1 tbsp of unsweetened apple sauce
  • 2 tbsp of water
  • 1/2 tbsp far free sweet condensed milk
  • 1/2 cup thawed, frozen peaches
  • 1/4 cup sliced strawberries 
  • 5 Splenda packets
  • 2 tbsp fat free Cool Whip
Mix strawberries and peaches with Splenda, let flavors combine and juice. Mix cake, applesauce, and water. Pour into sprayed microwave dish. Microwave for 1 minute. Top with condensed milk, fruit, and cool whip. 
______________________________
Tomorrow is grocery shopping day! I love that day. My list is made and my meals for the next two weeks planned. All recipes will be skinnied and weight watcher friendly!
1. Mexican Chicken Casserole & Black Bean & Salsa Green Salad
2. Crockpot Honey Bourbon Chicken, Healthy “Fried” Rice, & Edamame 
3. Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps (with leftover Honey Bourbon Chicken) & Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls
4. Parmesan Tilapia, Roast Potatoes & Lemon Peppered Asparagus
5. Shepherd’s Pie & White Cheddar Broccoli 

Like I said, I won’t be posting all recipes! I’m being practical. I’m sharing meals plans to assist in your own creative meal plans. HOWEVER, I’m always willing to send a recipe your way. Feel free to comment, Facebook, or email me if you want a specific recipe listed. Thanks for being faithful! Stay focused, healthy eating is way better!

A Little Glimpse Into My Life

Leave a comment

As you know, on January 3rd I started my new job (aka THE BEST JOB EVER) as a Resident Director at Mississippi College. I had the amazing privilege of getting to serve this semester along side some wonderful, beautiful, hilarious, motivating and inspiring Resident Assistants. We became friends, and yes, I was their boss, but far more than that, we became a family. Their smiling faces and contagious laughs are gone for the summer. The brick lined walls of Latimer-Webb are far too quiet now and my door misses those knocks. To end the semester and appreciate their work, we had an End of the Year Banquet. Each RD got to say a few things about their RAs. In honor of them, I’ll share with you what I shared with them. 


I learned a lot. I grew as an RD from training to every experience I encountered. But those six beautiful girls taught me a lot too. 

I’ve learned how to spot a diamond from a mile away, where all the worlds largest diamonds are located and way more about presidents than I ever thought I’d know thanks to Leah Frances. But she also taught me what it looks like to expect the best from people and not settle for less than that. I learned that being a ninja is is not an easy job and only people as cool as Kristen can do it (she actually is a ninja and could kill us all with one karate move!). But I also learned from her how to see the beauty in everyone and that each person, no matter how different, is worthy of our efforts. Thanks to Amanda I now know that the sky turns green before tornadoes and I’ve also never had to watch the weather since we had our very own Lat-Webb weather girl. But I also learned how to see the bright and positive side of every situation. I learned that any word can be abbreviated like totes for totally and awk for awkward and that wearing hippy headbands is totes cool thanks to Mary Kathryn and EB. But from Mary Kathryn I also learned to find God in everything and rely on his Word more. And EB by example has shown me that it’s okay to say what you think and feel. I also learned that perfection really is possible, from Katie, who is always on time, always volunteers, and always does her best. But I also learned from her to do things with excellence to reflect the abilities and talents God has given you.


From being a family with these girls I’ve learned that it’s possible to loose at least five pounds from laughing. I’ve learned how to be the church outside the church and with each other. We learned to love God and His Word more. I learned how to see the world and life with fresh hope. We learned how to do the best and be the best at the places God has you and positions he blesses you with. And I learned how to be a family, love, and trust a group of girls who truly are like sisters to one another and little sisters to me. 

I can’t imagine a better RA staff to have the joy and privilege of serving as my first time as an RD! My expectations will forever be high because of the bar you’ve set. I miss you all!

Grilled Cheese and Jesus

2 Comments

Not to be confused with Glee’s craziness, Grilled Cheesus. Love that show, but not that episode! But Jesus and sandwiches have been a big part of my life lately. My job challenges me daily. My RAs are amazing young women who love the Lord and make me want to love him more and more. We’ve been going through the book of Roman’s together and it’s just been so rewarding.

I love love love my job. I love my life! Being surrounded by a positive atmosphere makes such a difference in my life. Since February 1st I’ve lost 19.6 lbs! I’m a much healthier person all around. I’m LOVING Weight Watchers. It’s somehow like magic to me. It really works! Because they are an easy, light lunch or dinner, I have been eating a lot of sandwiches lately. If you make them right they can be really substantial, not a lot of points, and yummy! I use Sara Lee 45 calorie multi-grain bread. It’s 1 point per slice instead of 2! My bread, and yours, can be a blank canvas for a yummy and satisfying meal!

Some of my favorite additions…
-1 wedge of Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb cheese spread on one side (1 point). Their are also lots of other varieties, Chipotle, Blue Cheese, Sun-dried Tomato and Basil. I intend to try them all! A 3 pack at Sam’s is $6.
-Honey Mustard, Spicy Brown Mustard, any variety of mustard (0 points).
-Slivers of red onion (0 points).
-Thin slices of Granny Smith apple (0 points).
-Lettuce, Tomato, or pickles (0 points).

AND my favorite addition to any sandwich that just seems to take it from a blah sandwich to a perfect meal…

I spray the outside of the bread with Parkay spray butter (0 points), sprinkle the bread with dried parsley, basil, and a little bit of reduced fat parmesan and toast it! I use an electric panini grill. You can use a sandwich maker or just a skillet! I promise, try it! Paint a beautiful picture on the bread canvas. Yes sandwiches are going to be boring and no fun if you eat the same old plain sandwich every day!

Tell me that doesn’t look good?! That whole yummy sandwich is just 5 points! That particular one has lettuce, granny smith apples, red onion slivers, garlic and herb cheese, honey mustard, and mesquite deli turkey with the ungraded bread. Served with a salad of romaine, cottage cheese, tomatoes, green onions, deli turkey, sun-dried tomato dressing, and fat free cheddar and the rest of the granny smith apple on the side. Total meal = 9 points.

Another fun WW friendly recipe I’ve tried recently is an open face tuna melt. It was sooo yummy! I did it exactly like this recipe: Skinny Tuna Melt.

Last favorite tip of the day. A lot of fresh veggies are 0 points. I LOVE 0 point things. But there’s only so many bites of raw broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, or celery you can take before it feels like you are forcing yourself to chew and swallow. So a simple thing I always keep in my fridge now to make fresh veggies an enjoyable snack is fat free ranch dip! Who doesn’t love those veggie trays and dipping your veggies in yummy ranch? If you make it with a dry ranch packet and a 16 oz container of fat free sour cream it’s only 1 point for a 1/4 cup. It may not sound like a lot, but that amount is perfect for a good portion of carrots or celery or broccoli or whatever you like!

A diet can be boring and feel depriving and make you hungry and angry and defeated! Don’t diet. Make simple, yummy, exciting lifestyle changes that you look forward too. A spiced up sandwich and salad really are more filling than any combo meal you can get at a drive thru. Change some things up! Low fat, fat free, or Weight Watcher friendly foods do not mean tasteless, boring meals! Be brave. Be bold. Let food be an exciting adventure. Experiment!

It was the end of a decade, but the start of an age.

7 Comments

*Plops down and begins to ramble on endlessly about changes, new things, food, and Taylor Swift*

Well, I have neglected you Julie. (In case you forgot, like I did, Julie is the blog’s name. I had to go back and remind myself what I re-named her.) But… in my defense I did move to a new state, live in a new apartment, have a new job, and am eating a new diet. I gave you a pretty make-over! That counts for something right? Okay good. I’m glad we settled that!

In case you haven’t heard, I moved! I was living in Slidell and had been a social work case manager for a year. God definitely used me, I learned so much and grew as a professional and a person. Everything just sort of perfectly (and divinely) fell in to place for the new job. I am now a Resident Director at my Alma mater. Which means I’m the “grown-up” that lives in a female residence hall at Mississippi College. There are a lot more details about the job I could bore you with, but that’s the jest.

Moving was a roller coaster of crazy! I love love love my church and the family I’ve made in Slidell. It was impossibly hard to leave, but God continuously affirmed that this was where he was leading, and continues to do so every passing day. I can’t tell you how many times I listened to this one song on Taylor Swift’s newest cd’s and just cried my eyes out! I even had to pull the car over a few times. I am an expert crier. The song is called Long Live. She wrote it to her band about the night they won several awards at one of those award shows. It captures the perfect sentiment of how I feel about my time in Slidell and just the journey of life and faith in general.


“And you take a moment… Promise me this: That you’ll stand by me forever. But if God forbid fate should step in and force us into a goodbye, if you have children someday, when they point to the pictures, please tell them my name… Long live the walls we crashed through. All the kingdom lights shined just for me and you. I was screaming, ‘long live all the magic we made.’ Long live all the mountains we moved. I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you. I was screaming, ‘long live the look on your face.'” 

Of course I haven’t said “goodbye” to any of them, but it’s a change. I’m probably not the best person when it comes to change. But not all change is bad. Not every move is goodbye. Looking back over the last four years of my life that the body of Christ at Northshore Church invested in and became such a huge part of, I can’t help but to remember it all with such joy! I see the “walls we crashed through.” I see how the “Kingdom (big K of God’s kingdom as opposed to the little k in the song) lights shined on us.” I see “the mountains GOD moved.” I did have the “time of my life fighting dragons with you.” Okay so not literal dragons. But the struggles of life! And the fun times of life. They aren’t over either, just further away. Family is forever. All of life is like this! Being back on a college campus, I can’t help but think of the time I was here with my friends (who are still my best friends!). We too had the time of our lives “fighting dragons” together. We continue to do so every time we reunite. Life is a big, on-going book.

The beginning of the song also says, “it was the end of the decade, but the start of an age.” It was the end of December when I moved, the end of 2010. My new job started on January 3rd, the beginning of 2011. I got so excited as I thought about using that as my “I moved” blog title, thinking it was so relevant and perfect. Then I realized 2010 was not the end of a decade. Duh. I decided to use it anyway in honor of one of my many “oh.. wait” moments. There are no ends though. Just new chapters in the book of life, which luckily is not over yet. Former chapters can always be revisited (and will be in a couple weekends!).

So I’m here, in Clinton, Mississippi at the best college ever! I LOVE my job. I studied women’s ministry at seminary. How perfect is it that I get to live in an all girl residence hall at a college?! I have a nice little kitchen too! I get to cook and bake for people often. I get to invest in the lives of girls. It’s just great. I’ve gotten gas in car once since I’ve moved here! AND my apartment is really cute! Soon I’m going to buy a camera (mine has been broken for a couple years) so I can take pictures of the apartment and my food.

Speaking of food… I started Weight Watchers two weeks ago. One of the wellness benefits of working here is that every two years they will pay for you to do Weight Watchers at Work if you want. There was no way I was passing up that opportunity. In two weeks I’ve lost 7 lbs! I’m actually really enjoying it. The tracking feeds my obsession with organizing nicely. So my recipes will likely all be Weight Watcher friendly now :). It’s a trial and error process as I try new recipes and tweak things. I do have a recipe for you today though! It’s a dessert of course. My weakness will always be sweets. I love baking for others and inevitably when you bake for others you eat some too! I decided to try a Weight Watcher muffin/cupcake recipe I found. They are 5 points for a normal size muffin or 2 points for a mini. Which is really good considering a small piece of cake with icing is 14 points! In case you aren’t familiar with Weight Watchers, based on your height, weight, gender, and age you are a assigned a daily points value. You can eat whatever you want as long as you have the points for it. So obviously you aren’t going to waste half of your points for the entire day on one piece of cake. But don’t get scared! All fruits and most veggies are zero points. It’s such a doable “diet” that doesn’t feel like a diet at all. No starving!

Pumpkin Muffins/Cupcakes

1 box of Spice Cake mix
1 15 oz can of pumpkin

Chocolate Muffins/Cupcakes

1 box of any kind of Chocolate Cake mix
1 15 oz can of pumpkin

Mix. Fill cupcake liners. Bake as directed on box. THAT’S IT! Did I mention how easy they were? The chocolate ones don’t taste like pumpkin at all and the pumpkin ones taste perfectly warm and cozy spicy and pumpkiny. I dusted the chocolate ones with powdered sugar and the pumpkin ones with cinnamon sugar. I tested them on my Resident Assistants today and they loved them too. You really can’t tell they are way less fat and calories. Just make sure you let them cool completely before dusting them and storing them. Mine got sticky. Yummy, but sticky.

If you are looking for low-fat recipes I HIGHLY recommend the blog http://www.skinnytaste.com/. I’m loving this blog right now and intend to try out so many of the recipes. She posts the Weight Watchers point values and nutrition information with each recipe.

In other exciting news, my blog is going to be listed on http://foodieblogroll.com/! I’m really excited. It’s basically a database for all people who have blogs about food. It will maybe give me some publicity and other neat opportunities. Plus it’s a cool community of fellow cooks, bakers, and foodies.

Last thing! I am also blogging at bloggingSHE.com. I am a member of a team called SHE, which stands for Sending Her Equipped. We do quarterly women’s events that are just great! They each have a SHE acronym (Scaling Her Everest, Shedding Her Excuses, Shaping her Expectations, Strengthening Her Endurance, etc.). We are trying to build a SHE community and the blog is really good! Several of our teachers (including me) blog for the site. Check it out if you have time.

I promise to blog more! Or I promise to try. I made one New Year’s Resolution. It was to paint more. As I was packing to move I realized I hadn’t painted anything in the entire year of 2010. I think I want to change it to create more! Paint more, write more, cook more, create more.