Milestones

Fall is in full force and I couldn't be happier. September is usually my favorite month of the year, but I felt it was still a little warm to really enjoy it... However, football has started and now that October is here, I think the cooler weather is finally here for a while too. I love the 2nd season in Texas (yes, there are only 2)...the season of Less Hot. It makes me a happy person.

We celebrated 2 special birthdays in September - both on opposite sides of the spectrum. Andy Roo turned 1! What a precious little boy and his mommy and my best friend did an amazing job with his party! And I got to play with lots of babies, so that's always fun!

This past weekend we celebrated my Mom-Mom's 90th birthday! Her actual birthday is October 10th, but it worked out best to celebrate a little early. It's the first time all 9 of her children were together for quite some time. Yup - all 9 of them. God bless her! My mom is one of 7...God Bless my Nan too! Times were definitely different back then. Almost all 18 grandkids and 18 great-grandkids were present too. It reminds me of all the blessing in my life to have such a wonderful family on both sides. And it's also made me extremely homesick for the Northeast. What I'd do to live up there again. I've never felt like Texas was home and every time I visit either family in Philly it makes it a little harder to come back to Texas... 

We got some great photos of Mom-Mom's day...in between dancing of course.

Also in September was Courtney's baby shower! We had tons of fun with our mustache themed party! And I made adorable guilt-free cupcakes! ;) This project was a little harder than I anticipated, but well worth it for the results! See below for instructions.

Guilt-free Cupcakes for Baby Shower:

4 receiving blankets

4 onsies (works best with newborn)

I used the following "recipe" to complete: Cupcake Tutorial

I couldn't get my blankets to a perfect 3 inches, but it still worked out alright. I think the best touch is the box and wrapping. I found mine at Michael's. 

Lots of fun coming up in October! My Godson's turning 2!!! We're doing a "trash the dress" session (sooo can't wait for this!) AND I have my 10 year high school reunion. It blows my mind that it's been 10 years already, but I'm looking forward to seeing friends I haven't seen in years! Oh how time flies!

If Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries...

Then I eat life nearly every day for a snack! :) And it's delish!

I think that cherries are probably my favorite afternoon snack. Good news is B doesn't like them so I get them all to myself as well!

Today was day #10! We're 1/3 of the way through and I don't know how I feel exactly. Today our office was filled with temptation - catered lunch, birthday cake and snacks...whew! I was ready to get out of there! The prep is no longer the hard part - the willpower is! In so many diets you have a point system so you can allow for cheats or you have a cheat day every week or so, but one of the foundations of this date is that for 30 days you are ridiculously strict. ZERO CHEATING! It's a little intense, but we're definitely seeing and feeling the effects/results. I think we both feel and look healthier.

A couple of this week's meals:

ZUCCHINI LASAGNA:

2 large zucchinis
1lb lean ground turkey
Tomato sauce or homemade if you have a good recipe for it (organic/no added sugars)
1/2 head of cauliflower
Grated almonds
Onions, mushrooms & any other veggies you'd like to add.

Slice the zucchini thin, longways.
Ground the cauliflower into a "rice" consistency
Saute all other veggies in EVOO with salt, pepper, garlic and Italian seasoning to taste

Layer zucchini, then veggies, then cauliflower and last a layer of sauce. Repeat until casserole dish is full. Top off with layer of sauce and grated almonds. Bake on 400 for about 20-30ish minutes (honestly...I don't remember and just cooked it until the veggies were tender and it was hot all the way through). It was pretty tasty!

I'm also not a professional food photographer either. Hope it gets the gist of it across. It all wound up coming apart (no cheese to hold it together...sad), so it doesn't really matter how pretty your layers are really.

WHOLE FAJITAS

This was super simple:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
1tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1 onion
1 bell pepper
Leaf lettuce
1 large avocado
1 bag frozen organic zucchini
Homemade salsa (recipe here)

I chopped the chicken into cubes (actually, B did) and then pan grilled it in EVOO with cayenne pepper, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.
Slice the onions and bell peppers into strips and sauté in ghee with seasoning on chicken. Sauteed zucchini separately with same seasoning.

Fresh Guac: Mash 1 avocado with about 4-5 tablespoons of salsa and add salt and/or garlic seasoning if necessary.

Use the leaf lettuce instead of a tortilla and dress as with all the toppings. Now, you may need to just chop up the lettuce and make into more of a fajita salad, but I was determined to make it feel like a real fajita, so I managed...a little messy, but ya know. Add zucchini to the side in place of rice and beans.

Not much else going on this week. Trying to get my runs in - have a 5K on the 8th: Color Me Rad! I am so excited! And another 1/2 coming up in the near future as well!

Looking forward to my best friend's son's first birthday party in 2 weeks in Houston and my Mom-Mom's 90th birthday party at the end of the month in Philly!! She's kind of adorable, don't ya think?

Until then - stay ding-dong-dorable!

Lisa