Well, Hello 2013

The New Year is upon us! Happy 2013 y'all.

Where does the time go? I swear I was just 25 and in grad school. .. and now, well, now I'm 30 and trying to figure out what in the heck happened to my twenties? Don't get me wrong, 30 is incredible. I'm looking forward to all that this decade has to offer. I'm in a much more settled place in my life than I was at 25, but there's something about my 25 year old self that I miss.

Anyhow, I've been on a mission to lose weight for years now. And somehow, year after year after year I find myself sitting here, in front of my computer on January 1 resolving to do x,y and z differently. This year I'm over resolutions and I'm all about goal setting. My boyfriend said it best, it's about setting small and measurable goals that we can track. I'm also realizing that the reasons that I want to lose weight are superficial and not based on creating a healthy lifestyle. I want to "get my sexy back" and fit into that new dress, opposed to being concerned about my blood pressure and cholesterol levels - like, forreal though, none of us are getting any younger so focusing on a healthy lifestyle, opposed to simply focusing on the numbers on the scale is what I'm focused on.

I've got goals, y'all. I'm trying to do some things in 2013. I mean, 2012 was good. It was a solid year and I had a ton of really notable accomplishments. I'm happy with 2012 but I want more for 2013.

Sometimes I feel as if my mind is running a million miles a minute. I've got my 9-5 which pays my bills and affords me the opportunity to handle what needs to be handled and much more, but I've also got my businesses that I'm trying to grow and cultivate. I want my businesses to thrive. I need them to. The 9-5 is cool for now, but there has got to be more.

Here are a list of my 2013 goals - I'll revisit them monthly to do a check-in with myself.

• Love harder
• Increase activity - whether it's the gym, yoga, walking, etc. Daily activity.
• Decrease processed crap from my diet
• Spend more time in my word
• Get involved in at least one ministry at church
• Re-launch the Cinderella for a Day program
• Practice random acts of kindness
• Get out of the 9-5 world
• Celebrate the small victories 

That's all I've got for now. I leave you with some of my fave photos from my bday dinner with my boo thang, aka my man. :)

Sautéed Veggie Salad

After the ridiculousness of Thanksgiving my body was seriously craving something clean. Like, how many days can you eat ham, turkey, dressing, mac and cheese, greens, dirty rice, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie and pound cake? Like really, how many? Before your body starts to totally and completly breakdown. I was waking up in the middle of the night with FIERCE stomach pains, my clothes were fitting all extra tight and I felt like crap. I mean, yes, the food tasted amazing, but over here at my house, we were doing entirely too much.

I got the idea for this salad from our friends at California Pizza Kitchen - they have a roasted veggie salad that sounds amazing (I've never had it). So, at like 9pm the other night after not being able to eat anything since breakfast because my stomach was straight up revolting against me I ran to the grocery store and stocked up on asparagus, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, bagged spinach a bag of coleslaw (cabbage and carrots), and a bottle of lighthouse organic balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing.

Here's the super easy recipe.

Ingredients: 
- asparagus (use as much as you want, I used 7 small slices and cut them in half)
- yellow, red and orange bell pepper
- baby spinach salad mix
- coleslaw mix
- lighthouse organic balsamic salad dressing
-turkey or chicken (optional)

Directions:

- Use 1/4 of a red, yellow and orange bell pepper. Cut in strips (you can use more if you desire). Cut asaparagus in half.  Sauté veggies with 1 tablespoon of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil OR coconut oil) for 5 minutes. Season with black pepper and garlic salt to taste.

- In a bowl add spinach and cole slaw mix (I didn't measure this out, I only made enough salad for myself).

- After veggies are finished add them to your spinach and coleslaw bowl. Toss with salad dressing and serve. 

. . .and BOOM that's it. You're done. I did add a little bit of leftover turkey the first time I made it, but it's just as good with no meat. I hope you enjoy! 

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

So, I've decided that since I've been cooking so many amazing dishes lately it's time to come back to the blog world. Life has been good - the holiday's are upon us and I couldn't be more excited about decorating my house and coming up with fun new recipes to try. The weather is finally changing here in So Cal and I've really been craving a yummy chicken noodle soup. While browsing Pinterest I found a recipe that sparked my interest, but decided to add my own spin to it. I didn't take nearly enough pictures while whipping this bad boy up, but follow these simple instructions and you really can't go wrong.

Ingredients:
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen or thawed)
- 1 15oz can of corn, drained
- 1 26oz can of cream of chicken soup
- 1 26 oz can of chicken broth
- 1 cup water (you can add more if you want it more "soupy" my soup was a little thicker)
- 1/2 cup diced carrots (more or less if you desire)
- 1/2 cup diced celery (more or less if you desire)
- 1/2 white onion, diced
- 2 small white potatoes diced
- garlic salt, black pepper and seasoning salt to taste* (you'll have to play around with the amount of seasoning you add, I'm a big pepper lover so I kind of go crazy with it, but it's really up to you)
- 8 oz egg noodles (I basically used 1/2 of the 16oz bag - you can add a little less if you don't want as many noodles)

Directions:
In a crockpot, combine chicken breasts, corn, cream of chicken, chicken broth, water, carrots, celery, white onion, potatoes and seasoning. Cook on low for 6 - 7 hours. 30 minutes before you're ready to serve add your egg noodles. DO NOT add egg noodles at the beginning, they will be super mushy.

. . .and BOOM - you're done. . .that's it. It's super simple and absolutely AAAHH-mazing! Seriously, try it and let me know how you like it.

Besos!

Vegan "Cheese" Experiment

It's with a heavy heart that I share with you that I recently learned that I am lactose intolerant. Yes, the girl who loves cheese. . .the girl who loves yogurt. . .is indeed lactose intolerant. And like really. . .it sucks. Totally sucks. The crazy thing about it is, I've always eaten cheese and dairy and well, stuff with lactose. So, this sudden onset of lactose intolerance is just not cool.

At any rate, I decided that I didn't want my stomach to continue doing back flips and lunges and cartwheels, all while sending me to the bathroom every 10 minutes and making my boyfriend very. .. well, very uncomfortable. Lol

I've been experimenting with various recipes and while in Whole Foods tonight decided to make a thin crust pizza. I asked one of the associates if they carried lactose free cheese. I was then directed to the dreaded vegan section and told that a particular vegan cheese was "just like" real cheese. . .per the package, it melted and stretched and eveeerything. So, I opted to give it a try. To be fair, it wasn't awful, it just wasn't real Mozzarella. I love real Mozzarella, not the vegan counterfeit.

Needless to say, after preparing the pizza and incorporating the "cheese" like substance, it wasn't  horrible, like in all honesty it wasn't awful. The pizza was actually pretty amazing. What the vegan cheese taught me was that I really don't need cheese on my pizza as long as I top it with hella stuff. . veggies, meat, pineapple, just all types of "real" yumminess.

At any rate I recommend trying this recipe. If you're not lactose, but still want a lighter version of a fab pizza, just omit the cheese and put more veggies on it. The sauce was awesome, the chicken sausage was amazing and the tomatoes and arugula really made it delish.

Recipe: Vegan Cheese, Tomato, Chicken Sausage and Arugula Pizza 

Ingredients:
- Thin Pizza Crust
- Sundried Tomato Sauce
- Red Bell Pepper
- Yellow Bell Pepper
- White Onion
- Garlic
- 2 chicken sausage links
- Fresh tomatoes 
- Arugula
(Note* you'll see pictures of canned black olives and canned diced tomatoes, I ended up not using those, but feel free to use them if you'd like)

The "Cheese" - Teese Mozzarella

 

Step 1: Saute' bell peppers, onions and garlic for 5 minutes.

 Step 2: Prepare chicken sausage on George Forman Grill and cut into cubes

Step 3: Mix sundried tomato sauce with bell pepper, onion and garlic mixture. Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Step 4: Pour tomato sauce on pizza crust and spread

Step 5: Sprinkle cheese over tomato sauce 

Step 6: Add diced tomatoes, chicken sausage, arugula and extra "cheese". Bake for 15 minutes and serve! 

Finished product! 

Enjoy! 

Jerk Chicken Goodness :)

I've been on a serious Pinterest kick lately. I'm borderline obsessed. Make sure you follow my boards.

So I made a pretty fab dinner tonight and I just have to share the recipe with y'all. Ever since our trip to Jamaica in March I've been hooked on anything jerk. I've been putting jerk sauce on everything. I decided that I wanted to make jerk chicken tacos with pineapple. Super easy, delicious and .. . wait for it, healthy!

Here's the oh so simple recipe and pics. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
- Chicken breasts
- Bell Peppers (yellow and red)
- White onion
- Garlic
- Corn tortillas
- Pineapple slices (caned)
- Jerk Sauce
- Black pepper

Step 1: I fileted a chicken breast and seasoned with jerk chicken seasoning, black better and garlic salt and cooked on a George Forman Grill for 5 minutes (they were not 100% cooked, but that's okay because you'll be cooking them more later).

Step 2: Dice onion, red and yellow bell pepper (I never measure, you can estimate how much you want to use) 

Step 3: Add two tablespoons of EVOO to a non stick skillet saute' onions, bell peppers and garlic for 5 minutes.

 Step 4: Remove your chicken breast and dice into small/medium sized chunks

Step 5: Combine diced chicken into sauteed bell pepper and onions. Cook for 3 minutes. 

Step 6: Add pineapple and jerk chicken sauce (I used World Arbor's Jerk Chicken sauce purchased at Ralph's). 

Step 7: Prepare your taco shells (I "fry" mine with Pam cooking spray until they are hard). Stuff shells with jerk chicken mixture and . . .get your grub on. :) 

I added low sodium black beans to the mix - oh, I also added 2 tablespoons of jerk sauce to the black beans because. . .well, I'm kind of addicted. 

Cheers to the freakin' weekend

Good Morning Loves,

I always say I'm going to post more often and then, somehow I fall off. It's 7:05 am here and I've been awake for while. My sleep has been off and I'm really not feeling that. . .at all. I've got so much going on right now, personally and professionally. I needed to write this blog this morning so I can learn to be more accountable for things. Things like my dreams, my health, my family, my walk with the Lord. . .just so many things are running through my mind right now. There isn't anything that is necessarily "wrong" per se, I'm just a thinker. . .some would say I over think things, but hey. .. it is what it is.

I'm not really sure if there is a full fledged purpose for this blog. I don't have any news to share or any exciting stories to tell. Well, there is one fun fact . . .I've fallen madly. . .I mean insanely in love with Pinterest. I have so many board with pretty little things in them. Whoever created this website is a genius. Why didn't I think of it? Like, I've got a gazillion thoughts in my ever working brain. . .you would think that I would come up with something that could make me loads of loads of money, instead I'm an entrepreneur, which trust me. . . at some point will reap a ridiculous harvest, oh, and I work in education. The most depressing industry, besides the financial sector that there ever was. At least in the state of California. I can't even get into the challenges that my 9-5 life brings or the stress, but hey, I'm blessed to be able to wake up to the challenges.

Anyhow, cheers to the freakin' weekend! I kind of live for Friday's. . .

Enjoy!

Abortions, Jesus and Judgment

Hey Loves,

So, my best friend told me: "remember.....religion, politics and abortion...3 topics you don't debate. you'll just get frustrated."

And somehow, time and time again I end up getting frustrated dealing with people. My people. My Christian folk. Now, I love the Lord with my whole heart and my whole soul and my whole entire everything. Like really, I love Jesus. He's my homie. We go back, like, back to December 82. .. I take that back, more like March 82 when he saw fit to link my daddy's sperm with my momma's egg and create me. . .I mean, back like before the start of creation he knew that there would be ME. That's pretty amazing to me. . .

At any rate. I hate debating with people. I'm not a good debater, I think it's silly - I'd much rather agree to disagree and keep it pushing. But, I always end up getting sucked in to debates when they have to do with a) abortion or b) religion. You know why, because often times people just annoy me with their level or ignorance about the two topics. They annoy me with their judgmentalness, and especially when you combine the two. . .like, abortion + religion is never going to end up pretty. Never. It just can't.

So, without disclosing names, etc. while on Facebook last night (yes, it always goes back to Facebook, huh? Like that's the modern day CNN or Encyclopedia Britannica). So anyway, a friend posted the following link to an article about Planned Parenthood.

Article: Planned Parenthood Sets up 40 Days of Prayer for Abortion

Granted, I think the article is hella misguided and someone needs to reevaluate "praying for abortion" as a Christian, as a believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that just makes no sense.

So anyway, my friend posts the article and the comments start trickling in - they are as follows:

• Girl Wonder: God hears anyone who prays to him, no matter what they are praying about
• Original Poster: No true. The only prayers He hears from unbeliever is a prayer of repentance, Arcadia. He does not hear sinful prayers.
• Girl Wonder: If you're praying, you're probably a believer to begin with.
• Original Poster: Wouldn't that be nice if that were true. People pray to a lot of things, for a lot of things. Read your Bible.
• Girl Wonder: Stuff like this is what makes the rest of the world think that CHristians are bunch of close-minded Republicans.
• Original Poster:

  It has nothing to do with political affiliation. Like I said, pick up the Bible and read for yourself. If you think God is close minded, you can tell Him that yourself. Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”
  Proverbs 15:29 “The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.”
  
  He does not hear their evil prayers, but He knows the darkness in their hearts, and they will stand before Him someday. Hopefully by then they would have turned from their wicked ways. Prayers to bless their murder of babies? God would never hear it.

• Original Poster: Another one. Psalm 66:18 “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
• Me: I think it's also important that as Christians we don't judge. The bible teaches us, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. Seeing that we are all sinners who are imperfect creatures, we should be mindful not to judge. Stay true to who you are and your beliefs, but judging is not of God. Love, however is.
• Girl Wonder: That quote means that he doesn't grand miracles that would be sinful. He hears all prayers.
• Original Poster: That verse is terribly mistranslated. The original word for that was "condemn" not judge/discern. We are called to judge and discern. If we couldn't, we would fall to false teacher and prophets. Why? Because we couldn't "judge" whether they were aligned with the Bible or not.
• Original Poster: No, Girl Wonder, it says He will not hear. Pretty clear cut.
• Original Poster: He is too Holy and Righteous to hear such "prayers". The Bible says He is so Holy He turns His face away from sin.
• Me:

  The word is the word and is states clearly “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:1-5NKJV
• Original Poster: The word judge in the original translation was condemn. Judge is a loose translation of it. He was talking with about the Pharisee and their hypocrisy. This is not to say that all judgement is forbidden. We are to judge between good and evil, holy and unholy. That is how we know what is of Satan and what to resist. We are told by society not to judge because society has been indoctrinated with the worldly teaching of "tolerance". To the world tolerance means that truth is subjective, and there is no absolute truth. But there IS truth by which we are to live our lives and make judgement based on. And that is God's word. We CAN can call out evil as evil, as long as it is aligned with God's word and based on His standards. There are things that are wrong. People don't like to hear it because they want to believe that right and wrong are subjective, when we know they are not. It's like a doctor pointing out an odd looking mole on someone's neck. "Hey, I don't like that. That will cause problems and we need to get rid of it." Will the patient say "-Gasp- Don't judge me and my skin!" (I chuckle imagining that). But that's how society is nowadays. Rid of all accountability and they want to define right and wrong and what is wrong is right and what is right is judgmental. Oh, the twisted world we live in.

Needless to say after all of this I was pretty much over it. My thing is, as Christians we should have compassion for people. I'm not saying turn your back on things that are wrong, I'm not saying to condone things that are not of God, but what we shouldn't do is be so negative and judgmental and basically throw the bible at people. Always have the bible as your reference point, because as Christians that's our compass in life, our guide. But really, people need to evaluate their own lives before they start talking about how other people are evil and nonbelievers because of their sins. . .like hello - you probably sinned this morning, that "white lie" you told your boss. .. yep, you sinned, the baby you had out of wedlock? Yeah, that's a sin too. . .cheating on your wife? Dude, you sinned. . .having all that premarital sex. .. yep, sinner. Now, am I going to throw the bible at you and tell you that you're going straight to hell with gasoline draws on? Um, no. That's not for me to determine, that's between you and the man up stairs, all I can do if asked is give you biblical principals to stand on. .. like, um, repent and pray. If there is a teaching moment, provide clarity, and also be willing to recognize when you are not interpreting the word correctly. There are so many translations of the bible, NIV, NKJV, KJ, Message, etc. Throwing the bible at people does nothing more than turn them away from the church, and once you start doing that. . .man, that's a dangerous road to go down.

I don't claim to know all 66 books of the bible by heart, I cannot recite every scripture, I don't memorize scripture with the intent of throwing it in another's face. That's not what God intended for us to do. . .stand your ground when it comes to issues like gay marriage, abortion, etc. but also understand that your judgment of another person is doing nothing to help YOU get into Heaven. Turning a person away from God is not our mission as Christians. I pray that I never allow my personal feelings about a life issue to allow me to be so judgmental that I would say something that would turn a person away from the Lord.

Anyhow, that's that. Have a fabo day.