I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t eat the greatest food last weekend. There were lots of burgers (which meant BUNS), chips, and other BBQ fare that left me a little heavier on the scale this morning. So I decided to keep dinner light, tonight.
Heat a medium sauté pan to medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and let heat for a minute or two. Next, add 1/4 cup of diced pancetta, 1 clove of garlic that’s been minced, and a cup of Brussels sprouts that have been cleaned and cut in half. Lastly, add some red pepper flakes for some heat, if you like. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 20 minutes or until the Brussels sprouts have lightly carmelized. In a separate pan, fry an egg lightly keeping the yolk runny, about 5-6 minutes.
Dinner is served!
Because everything is better with an egg on top, right?
What’s your favorite way to prepare Brussles sprouts? Do you like your eggs runny or fried hard?
Have you ever made a radical decision? Done something you never thought you’d do? Well, I have, and although it was a couple years ago I still think of the experience quite often.
If you are new to this blog, you may not know it but I LOVE to cook. It’s truly one of my biggest passions in life. To bring joy to someone through my food is something I just can’t explain. Hearing my husband sigh and moan after taking a bite of my pork roast makes me grin from ear to ear and fills my heart with such warmth.
In fact, I love it so much that someday I hope to be in the restaurant business, more so I’d love to OWN my own place.
So 2 years ago, I tried out for Master Chef. Yup, the TV show on Fox…and it was the scariest and most exciting thing that ever has happened to me minus child birth. You can read about my experience HERE. https://movinitwithmichelle.com/2014/10/13/my-masterchef-open-call-experience/ You can see my audition dish as my new cover photo!
My favorite picture from the audition! LOL
I think it was such a big deal, because I hadn’t ever stepped outside of my comfort zone like that before and just WENT FOR IT. As I was watching it last night on TV, I couldn’t help and smile through my tears. While of course I didn’t make it to the show, I knew truly how these contestants were feeling.
I hope to make that jump again one day, in regards to a career move. I am waiting until my husband returns from his deployment, but let me tell you…when he does, it’s ON!
In trying to keep with my “lower” carb diet, I’ve been playing around with my “zoodler” more often. Here’s the one I have, click here. Tonight’s dish was a hit!
Recipe:
1 large zucchini, zoodled
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bag of pre-cooked large shrimp, thawed (remove tails)
1 jar of red sauce, use your favorite!
Basil, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper
1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
Here’s what you’ll do:
Heat 2 tablespoons of EVOO in a non stick skillet, add your garlic, onions and red pepper flakes and sauté until the onions are translucent, being careful not to burn the garlic; 3-4 minutes. Add in the jar of sauce, herbs and salt and pepper and let simmer for 25 minutes. In the last five minutes add in your shrimp to heat through, and get a second sauté pan heated on medium high heat with 1 tablespoon of EVOO. Next, add in your zucchini, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until al dente, making sure the zoodles aren’t mushy!
Enjoy!
Have you tried a zoodler yet? What’s your favorite low carb meal!
Have a great night everyone! If you try any of my recipes, please share your feedback!
Tonight’s Sunday supper was cooked as more of a therapy session for me than anything. The two things I love to do most when I am feeling stressed are run, and cook. Since I had just gone grocery shopping after work today, I decided cooking a nice Sunday supper would be a good idea since my goal was to cook something new each week!
There’s no real “recipe” for this dish, but here goes. Season your ribs with your favorite BBQ seasoning, salt, pepper and a touch of lime juice. Heat your cast iron skillet with a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to a high heat and sear the ribs on each side. Reduce heat and cook through until done.
For the cucumber salad, use your peeler and make long strips of cucumber (discard the outer green part) that will look almost like a wide fettuccini noodle. Place in a bowl. Season with salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon of yogurt and lime zest. Let chill for 30 minutes.
The asparagus I simply sautéed in extra virgin olive oil in a pan with salt, pepper, and minced garlic. YUM!
Dinner is served!
My sous chef!
The rest of my week was pretty blah. My workouts were minimal besides my daily plank due to work stress, school starting, and my little one catching strep on her second day of school. I’m hoping next week is better! I’m linking up with Holly and Tricia for their weekly wrap. Please run over and give their amazing pages some support!
I’m not sure why this week was harder than many others. Maybe it’s seeing my kids on their first day of school so happy, yet in the back of my mind my heart ached knowing my husband was missing yet another moment. Maybe it was the heartache and stress of being called at work by the school nurse on the second day of school because my mini was sick with strep throat. Maybe it’s having weekend duty this weekend and all the yuck that comes with it.
Or maybe I just miss him. For those that don’t know what it’s like to have your spouse deployed I’d say this poster from 11:11 Awakening Code sums it up perfectly. I pray I continue to have said courage because this week it took everything I had not to literally scream and cry for no apparent reason other than I just don’t want to do this anymore. But I have to, don’t I?
I’m sure praying that this heavy heart gets a little lighter for me this week. I didn’t get to run all week so I’m guessing that was the nail in the coffin so to speak.
Ok this post really isn’t about a lot, but I just needed to get it off my chest. #deploymentsucks
How do you turn a bad mood around? Ever have a bad week for no specific reason?
Well gang, we are just about at the half way point of my husband’s deployment. Sadly, keeping up with a career, a home, 2 kids, a dog, and everything in between has left little time for blogging. But, I’m still here!!! If you’ve been reading here lately, I’ve discussed that I am keeping the faith for a career change in the future and that hasn’t changed. Nothing has transpired as of yet, but the magnetic pull I feel every single day that there IS something more is so strong I find it’s tangible.
I HAVE started running a little again, just a couple 2 milers last week, but it’s something. I’ve also started cooking again, which makes my heart just happy. Moving forward I am going to try a new recipe that will challenge my skills-every week-and I’ll highlight what I made for you as well as critique how the dish turned out. I’m a huge collector of cookbooks and cooking magazines, so it’ll be fun to try out some new recipes! I figure it’s a good challenge for me, and it will keep me accountable here in blog land. More to follow on that…
With that, I think I’ll just give you a snap shot of my week in pictures which include my beautiful daughters, (S is starting 5th grade and had band camp last week, and J is going to be a JUNIOR…sigh) some of the dishes I cooked, and a couple of my work outs.
LOVE these two!
Cheese and Charcuterie from Hache’
Scallops from Hache’
Band camp!! Love this smile!
My mini and me, planking!
More workouts! I ran twice!
My sous Chef
She was quite proud of her plating!
My bacon wrapped turkey breast over sweet potato puree
I am linking up with Holly @https://hohoruns.blogspot.com and Tricia @http://www.misssippipiddlin.com (Will WordPress EVER let us link anymore?) for the weekly wrap. Please make sure to check them out! ❤
How was your week? What is the longest distance you’ve ever been on your own with your kids (if you have them, dogs/cats count too!)? Have you been cooking anything interesting lately?
I haven’t had a lot of time to write, but really wanted to highlight this past weekend . If you read my last post, you read that I am still keeping the faith in regards to my career progression. While nothing has changed since my last post, my faith still remains strong. #Godhasaplan
This past weekend was my youngest daughter’s 10th birthday. The big 1-0, double digits baby. She was more than thrilled to say she is finally TEN YEARS OLD, so I planned a wonderful weekend in the city not only to celebrate her birthday, but to give my daughters and I time to recharge our batteries.
I took Friday off from work, and we headed down to the city at around 10 a.m. After getting slightly lost once arriving to Chicago, we finally found our hotel. We stayed at the Wit hotel in Chicago, and I highly recommend it for any future visits. They treated us like loyalty, and we are just good ‘ole normal middle class folks. #winning We spent the weekend eating great food at places like Sienna Tavern and Bottlefork, went on an awesome architecture tour via boat, and shopping ’til we dropped almost literally.
So here’s our weekend wrap, mostly in pictures. I wish I had words to describe this amazing weekend, but there really aren’t any. Sure, we bickered some as of course to be expected with 3 woman with each other non-stop for 72 hours, but mostly we bonded, laughed, joked, and there were even a few tears from me as we sang Happy Birthday to my youngest, knowing her Dad would be sad having to miss this day. My heart broke a little, but my daughters helped me find my smile again.
First day at lunch at a place called O’Tooles“Cocktails” at the roof top bar at the WitUs at dinner at the Sienna TavernCheers!A signed copy of Fabio Vivani’s cookbook!!Wouldn’t be a birthday without Dylan’s candy storeDay 2 at Navy PierViews from our tourMore gorgeous viewsUs on the way to Bottlefork for dinnerShopping at the MAC store, hehe!Never too old for fun!Fireworks show at Navy PierWorn out after a long weekend, LOL
While there wasn’t much working out for me last week other than my daily plank, we logged over 12 miles of walking this weekend so I’ll take it. I’m wrapping up with Holly and Tricia for the weekly wrap since these ladies rock, and I’ve missed linking with them. Please head over and check them out! ❤
How was your weekend? Do you explore the city you live in? What is your favorite touristy thing to do?
It’s been 20 weeks and 2 days since my hubby left. I am still brought back to our departure on days like today when it’s humid, dark, and stormy out. Sometimes in those dark times I struggle. But sometimes those dark times test my faith to the 100th degree. And that got me thinking…
I haven’t had a TON to blog about since he left. More so I haven’t had TIME to sit down and write thoughtful blogs. But every now and then I am reminded about the power of prayer and faith so I just had to share a few thoughts. Those of you that have been following this blog for a while know that I have been in the same profession for 25 years. I work in a pathology lab, and it was job that was chosen for me by the Air Force. While I have always enjoyed my profession, it is NOT my passion and I am NOT where I feel I am meant to be in life at this point in time. What DOES keep me going at my job is my coworkers, but that is a whole new post filled with fun and laughter because this group is AHMAZING. I digress…
Over the last several years I began to really pray. PRAY. And then I pray some more that God would lead me on the right path and help me find a job I am more passionate about, and one that will provide a better life for my kids.
Pic from Pinterest
And with those prayers, have come phone calls from recruiters, emails, and opportunities that while may have not yet been the RIGHT one, have been presented to me non-the-less. The last opportunity came to me a few months ago and I’ll admit, I was pretty excited about it. Just one day prior I had said some pretty desperate prayers, and the very next day I got a call from a recruiter. Several days later I interviewed, and although I felt I did a great job interviewing I realized that I had to trust my gut in regards to the negative vibe that I was feeling and decided to pass on the job. I am very happy where I am despite bad pay and working weekends/holidays and I won’t trade that for negative surroundings. The opportunity gave me restored faith, and the will to keep praying.
So I’ve been praying continually, sometimes about my career situation and often times about other aspects of my life. I pray for my kids happiness, my patience (thank goodness for wine), my husband’s safety, my family’s well-being and honestly just to keep the faith. Because I do believe whole heartedly I am destined for more in life than where I am at now, all while remembering that I am content with all that I have as well.
Yesterday I prayed out loud while driving home for work. I said the words, “I have faith.” I talked to God in detail, and told Him I would trust His plan. See, my “church” is often my daily commute. ❤
Pic from Pinterest
Today, I got a call that could potentially change our lives…and even if it doesn’t-that call gave me renewed faith. Pretty cool how that works…
Do you believe in the power of prayer to a higher power?
When I saw the Wednesday word over at DebRuns was pragmatic, I just had to jump in for the link up. Make sure to head over and check out her blog. Debruns.com!!!
From vocabulary.com, the definition fit me perfectly. Well. Lately.
“The opposite of idealistic is pragmatic, a word that describes a philosophy of “doing what works best.” From Greek pragma “deed,” the word has historically described philosophers and politicians who were concerned more with real-world application of ideas than with abstract notions. A pragmatic person is sensible, grounded, and practical — and doesn’t expect a birthday celebration filled with magical creatures.”
Up until this deployment (well even before that to be honest as my single Mom duties have increased over the last several years) I dreamed of being so many different things. A writer, an avid runner, a Chef at my own restaurant, a life changer and so many more magical things that put the light in my eye. But as of late, the pragmatic side of me has since kicked in, and I find myself just doing what I can do get through the day.
But what kind of life is just getting through the day? Not one for me, I can tell you that. So as I talked about last week, I wanted to start running again. But with temps in the 90’s with humidity out the roof I decided I couldn’t put it off anymore. Practicality was for the birds and I had an overflowing plate that needed to be cleared.
So last night I dusted off my treadmill, fired it up, and RAN TWO MILES. Life changing? No. Day changing? HECK YEAH.
The smile says it all, my mini snapped the pic!
After the run I was so pumped up that I did 20ish minutes of strength training and a NINE minute straight plank. Yup. I did that.
she made it a whole minute!
I was reminded of the amazing powers of a good workout. My mood lifted, and I even slept for almost 4 hours straight last night, waking up only once for a total of 5 1/2 hours of sleep. #winning
So while doing what I can is all I CAN do right now, sometimes I still have to follow my heart.
Are you idealistic or pragmatic? Thoughts on running on a treadmill?
Some weeks are easier than others. Life keeps us busy, almost too busy to think about how much we are hurting inside. Last week was one of those weeks thankfully, because very minimal communication with my hubby made my mood a little blue. I think my hubby must’ve sensed this, because I got a sweet gift of plating tweezers from him this week.
I had a great week over all though, and even got out for a wine dinner with my dear friend and next door neighbor.
I broke my planking record, and am still on my streak since May 1st of planking every day until my hubby gets home.
I cooked some yummy pork chops in my slow cooker with a soy, ginger, garlic, onion, pink pepper corns, black pepper, brown sugar, lime zest and red pepper flake concoction. I let it go on high for 4 hours, and the only thing I’d change is I’d lightly pan fry the chops first to prevent drying out.
I didn’t run last week, because after a couple days of insomnia which lead to my body revolted and my IBS kicking in full force from Thursday on, the only place I was running was to the toilet. :-I
All in all it was a decent week. We ended the weekend with an amazing dinner with our friends on Saturday night, and a Netflix marathon of watching the entire second season of Chef’s Table on Sunday, LOL. My mini even joined me, which made my entire day even that much better.
Linking up with Holly and Tricia again, please make sure to check out this amazing and supportive link up. (sorry, won’t let me link the pages)
Movin' it with Michelle 