Slight Cooking Hiatus

I'm 5 days away from my due date and cooking has taken a back seat to napping, relaxing and waiting for this baby. Hopefully soon after I get into the groove of motherhood, I'll be back in the kitchen. Maybe I'll even have a surge of energy this week! Thanks for reading and following me. I'll be back!

Review: Green Pan

I bought a Green Pan this weekend at Target on recommendation from my friend Robyn. The large one was $34.99 so I figured I'd try it. I always knew the non-stick stuff (mostly teflon) on pans was toxic but I just couldn't give up my non-stick. Stainless steel for me always turned into a mess so sadly, I stuck with my toxic, teflon pans. Well, now that there is an affordable version, I figured why not. Well, I loved it. I cooked my quinoa in it on Sunday night and it was easy to clean, cooked my food beautifully and performed just as my other pans.

I would highly recommend these if you're looking to become not just more healthy but also more environmentally friendly. Next week I'm going to go buy the small, omelet size pan. The only negative is that it didn't come with a lid and my other lids didn't fit. So I will need to find something but for now, I'm happy with what I've got. Thanks Robyn!

I'll be back soon!

I've not posted anything because my camera with my pictures is at my Mom's and we were away for my birthday weekend. Life has been crazy but I'll get back into it this weekend. And yes, R, we will take pictures of our dinner Saturday night for the blog!

Happy Earth Day!

Just a reminder to everyone, today is Earth Day. It's a great day to start your journey to going "green". Some easy ways to start...

• Print out things double-sided. Save paper!

• Buy organic whenever you can. Save the Earth and your body from those toxic pesiticides.

• Buy a stainless steel or aluminum water bottle and ditch those disposable plastic water bottles. Get a Britta to fill them up with or if you have a fridge with a water filter, use that! Also, watch out if you're buying a plastic water bottle... BPA's are harmful to your health and the environment! Check these out!

• Bring tupperware with you to a restaurant to take home leftovers. Pyrex are the best but anything is better than the styrofoam they give out.

• Buy a lunch bag. There many out there such as this one that can replace your brown paper or plastic bag.

I think we all know about the benefits of bringing your own bags to the grocery store and forgoing plastic bags. If you don't want to buy bags, reuse the free totes you get as gifts or receive at conferences or that your company gives out.

And of course, recycle, recycle, recycle. Have a lovely Earth Day and I hope everyone does something small.

My Weight Loss Plan

Recently a fellow blogger, Ash Is Fit, started a new weight loss initiative called 20/20 and invited others to join her. I definitely need to lose the 20 lbs so I thought I'd try it out. Unfortunately I have an injured hamstring so this may prove a little harder since I can't run. So here's my plan:

Lose 20 lbs in 20 weeks with a goal of running a 10K by the time I've lost it. I tend to fall off the wagon a lot when trying to lose weight but this one I really want to stick to.

She also encourages us to give ourselves a reward for making progress. So for my reward, at the first 10 lbs, I will treat myself to a day kayak trip. I love kayaking but don't go enough so it won't only be exercising but it will be fun too.
When I hit 20 lbs. I will buy a new J. Crew tankini, my absolute favorite bathing suits but they are pretty expensive.

Wish me luck! I hope to succeed and look good by August.

Ladies Lunch

On Saturday, it was my turn to host a luncheon for the girls I met on the What's Cooking board. It was a great afternoon and we had a lot of fun eating, sharing stories and talking food. Sarah took all the pictures for the group and posted everything on her site so check it out to see our Mexican-themed lunch spread. I made Texas Chicken Quesadillas, which have been around my house for a long time. Colleen brought guacamole and Santa Fe cheese dip. Sarah made some delicious Spanish rice. Lauren came with a fabulous taco bake for the main course. Brooke baked some fabulous Mexican chocolate crunch brownies, which my family is very happy that she gave us some leftovers to keep at home. We love them!

I've been tagged!

My friend Colleen at Cooking This and That tagged me to tell seven weird or random facts about myself, so here we go!

1. I have very little patience. So little that rolling out dough frustrates me so now my husband is tasked with doing that whenever we have pizza.

2. I have my grandmother's hands. Every time I look at them I see hers and so I know exactly what they will look like when I'm 90.

3. I hate horror movies. I will run out of a room if a scene is scary and make whoever is else watching tell me what is going on.

4. I am one of those people who will play a song over and over again for months and then never listen to it again.

5. I love to sing in the car. I have a pretty good knack for remembering songs from way back when although sometimes I mess up the verses and my husband has a good laugh.

6. I am obsessed with coffee. I will never give it up.

7. My favorite animal is the capybara. I love rodents and this one is just so cute.

So now I need to tag some other people and here we go!

Dori at http://foodiefashionista.blogspot.com/
Amy at http://skinnyfoodbyamy.wordpress.com/
Ashlee at http://ashleescooking.blogspot.com/

New Jersey "What's Cooking" Get Together

On Saturday, five of us ladies from the What's Cooking board I frequent (and get a lot of my recipes and ideas from) got together for a luncheon at Brooke's house, which she graciously opened up to us. We all made something for the occasion. Colleen made the appetizers, delicious spinach, sausage and cheese mini pizza pockets. I definitely ate more than a couple! I brought the main course,chicken marsala. Lauren made a delicious pasta side, creamy baked orzo. Sarah made zesty broccoli casserole for our veggie side, which is really one of the greatest veggie sides ever. Brooke, our hostess, made hot apple toddies (YUM!) and a pumpkin gingerbread trifle for dessert (MORE YUM). Everything was fabulous and I'm so happy we were all able to get together and chat the afternoon away.

For pictures of everything visit Sarah's post here. She chronicled the day for us. Thanks again ladies for a great day!

Fall Exchange Gift

Thank you Joelen! Your gift was awesome!!!! I so appreciate the thoughtfulness and all the wonderful things. This is a great idea and I was so excited to get it. The girls on the WC board are truly the greatest. I am hosting Christmas Eve and everything will come in handy. I've already used the spoon today.

Here's a pic of what was in my package. Love it all!

I love a fire

If there is any reason I'm happy cold weather is coming, it's because it get to use my fireplace. There is something about it that makes me so happy. The coziness, the warmth, it's just nice.

Egg Salad

Even though egg salad isn't really anything tough to make, I do love it but don't eat it very much. Today I had a craving for it for lunch and the craving won. So simple but so good. Sometimes food really doesn't have to be complicated.














5 eggs
2 TBSP light mayo
1 celery stalk, chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste

Makes 3 servings.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

My husband Dave and I celebrated our first anniversary this weekend. Technically it is today, September 14 but we went out last night. We went to Hotoke in New Brunswick for sushi. Excellent food and really a wonderful ambience. Then we headed to Soho for a drink before the 10:30 comedy show at The Stress Factory. The comedians were great and we had so much fun. An excellent 1st anniversary and here's a picture of the happy couple!

Best Jeans of the Season

Ok, this is not a cooking post but I couldn't help share my love of the newest pair of jeans I purchased this weekend. I normally don't shop at the Gap, as my stingy wallet doesn't really ever want to part with the amount of money the Gap asked for their clothing. However, my wallet was feeling especially nice this weekend so we ventured in there. And I'm so happy we did. Just like most other women in the world, I have a hard time finding jeans that fit well and look good. These jeans did both: the low rise bell. I love them so much I'm going back for another pair. My wallet even told me that it was a good thing we went in there! Check them out here!

Busy week!

Between my husbands birthday (and getting ready for it), trying to squeeze in some running and exercising, and a minor league baseball game, this week was toast! We spent more time eating out than eating in, that's for sure. Hopefully August will slow down a little, but not this weekend, lots to still do. I have been reminiscing about our wedding though lately, maybe because our 1st anniversary is next month or maybe because I don't want to forget how much I loved it. Anyway, for anyone interested, here are a few of my favorite pictures.