My life as I know it

As I was searching for the perfect "macaroni" picture to accompany this blog entry, I stumbled upon a pretty amusing website that really captures the title of this blog. You can view it here , but only if you promise to come back and finish reading. :) Anyway, Pat and I ended up having somewhat of a last minute cook out at our house last Friday. Several of Pat's friends were here from out of town so 8 of them came over and I was in charge of the cooking. With my new found cooking enthusiasm, I was really excited about this! Of course I made the potato salad recipe (which I'm quite sick of now, by the way), spinach artichoke dip, cheese, crackers and pepperoni and I also made crock pot macaroni and cheese. It's a delicious recipe that I stumbled across last year and made a few times. When I find recipes online, I don't print them out but rather just use them right from the computer screen. If I like them, that's when I hand write the recipe onto an index ca...

Wrap up dinner in 15 minutes with a cool turkey, bacon and "guac" sandwich. Prep Time: 15 min Total Time: 15 min Makes: 4 wraps 1 ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and mashed 1 tablespoon Old El Paso® taco sauce 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt 4 Old El Paso® flour tortillas for burritos (8 inch; from 11-oz package) 8 oz thinly sliced cooked turkey 8 slices packaged precooked bacon (from 2.2-oz package) 4 leaves romaine lettuce 1/4 cup drained roasted red bell peppers (from 7-oz jar), large pieces cut up Print these coupons... About Concordance™ 1. In small bowl, mix avocado, taco sauce and garlic salt. Spread about 1 tablespoon on each tortilla. 2. Top tortillas with turkey; spread with any remaining avocado mix...

It's a beautiful day today. Not nearly as hot as yesterday. The sun is shining and the birds are chirping. I'm sitting out on our deck (oh the joys of laptops and Wi-Fi) and literally, soaking it all in. The trees and flowers are in full bloom and all I see when I look around is bright green. Sometimes he's so quiet I forget he's there, but my loyal companion, Grady, is right here laying beside me. Life has been so busy for us lately that I can't remember the last time I was able to just come outside, sit down and relax and really appreciate all the wonderful things in our life. We have such a big, beautiful backyard. It feels like our own little park. After all the houses we looked at in this area, I know a yard this size isn't common and we are so lucky to have it. We spent yesterday with my Mom and Mark and had a wonderful time. We'll be spending this afternoon with Pat's family and my Dad. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives...

" Healthified " Classic Potato Salad 53% fewer calories • 74% less fat • 75% less sat fat than the original recipe—see the comparison. Feel good about passing this slimmed salad at picnics and potlucks! Prep Time: 30 min Total Time: 1 hr 30 min Servings: 8 servings (3/4 cup each) Salad 6 medium red potatoes (2 lb), unpeeled 2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped 2 medium stalks celery, thinly sliced (1 cup) 1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup) Dressing 3/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream 1 tablespoon yellow mustard 1 teaspoon cider vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper Place potatoes in 4-quart saucepan; add enough water just ...

I am a very goal oriented person, as some of you may know. In addition to the thrill I get out of planning, making lists and crossing things off, I also enjoy setting goals for myself and trying to obtain them. I've set a few goals recently that I'd like to share with you. Not only because you might find them interesting, but also because by actually writing them out and making them public, I know that I will hold myself more accountable for them. Also, many of the goals will in one way or another shape and impact the things I write about in this blog. Goal #1: Make one new recipe each week Sounds easy, right? In theory, it probably should be. But I make everything more complicated than it needs to be. I don't like to go to the grocery store more than once a week. Maybe you think that's weird or maybe you agree with me but regardless, when I make a trip to the grocery store, I want it to be a well thought-out trip that involves a detailed list of everything...