Two Feasts!

Happy New Year!!!  I hope that everyone enjoyed a wonderful holiday season packed full of family, fun and good eats!  I know I sure did!  Our Christmas Day meal was enjoyed at my parents place.  Mom always puts on a great feast!

Turkey and ham, of course!  Mom gave me the ham bone and I made a rich, delicious split pea soup with it last week.  Mmmm...I should really post the recipe soon!!

 Sweet potatoes topped with a pecan crumble....

 Cheesy mashed potatoes....

 Crisp green beans....

And stuffing.....with bacon....enough said!  I'm still pretty much gluten free so no stuffing for me, but you bet I stole some of that bacon!!  :)

 Tiramisu.....the BEST dessert ever!!!

Mom also made a plate of Cannoli.  I ate the creamy stuffing out of two shells....yum!

For the past 5 years I have hosted the New Year's Day dinner festivities for my family.  Because I had to work a few days over the holidays, I wanted a stress free meal; something that didn't require a load of time, but still tasted great.  After flipping through many a recipe book I decided to make a pot roast form The Looneyspoons Collection, page 203 to be exact!  Here are the results;

 Top sirloin roast with cabbage wedges...

Potatoes and pearl onions (cooked with cabbage & roast)...

 Steamed asparagus sprinkled with feta cheese...

And buttery buns.  Dessert was a BIG apple pie from Costco.....

 And a Banana chocolate chip bread pudding, also from The Looneyspoons Collection.....

There was plenty of vanilla bean ice cream and real whip cream to go along with the desserts!

Aside from all the great eats that happened over the course of the holiday's, I was fortunate enough to spend lots of quality time with family, long time friends and getting to know some new, exciting friends.  Life is GOOD!  :)

Tell me a highlight from your holiday season!!  Also, now that I am the proud owner of an iphone 5 (!!!), I've hopped on the Instagram bandwagon.  You can follow me at kristam19....

Bye for now!!

A Few Gems

I feel like I’ve been gone forever again!  LOL  My blogging “schedule” has certainly become anything but routine.  I just can’t seem to bring myself to sit down with my laptop when the weather’s been so nice!  To be honest, I use to prepare most of my posts from work, but extra responsibilities (which were obviously needed) have prevented me from doing that.  I do have a few things I wanted to update you all on, though.  Like some new (to me) eats!  Last Sunday we made the hour long trip to Whole Foods (and Lululemon) where I picked up a few gems. 
These 365 coconut frozen fruit bars are officially my favourite summer treat!  Not only are they pure coconutty goodness, but they’re chalk full of coconut pulp!  YUMMY!! I know some may dislike pulp, but I dig the texture of it….always have.
I L-O-V-E SOL burgers and these rice & mushrooms patties are no exception.  Jason actually found these and put them in the cart.  A year ago that NEVER would’ve happened!  LOL These Green Cuisine tempeh burgers were also a find at Whole Foods.  I love the texture that tempeh has!  I mostly enjoyed these done up on the BBQ then served on an Ezekiel English muffin with goat gouda, spicy mustard and lettuce. These Gardein Tucson breasts were a HIT with Jason and myself.   I’ve wanted to try Gardein for some time now, but just can’t justify the cost.  When I caught these on sale a few weeks ago, I snatched them up.  I served the “breasts” over a bed of WW couscous for a quick, delicious meal.   Even Jason, who is a total meat & potato kinda of guy, gave them a thumb up.  We’ve really been minding our plates lately.  Lots of fresh fruit (and veg), salmon, meat “alternatives” or poultry (the sausages in the following photos are all turkey sausages), quinoa and couscous perked up with various veggies and cheese.  We’re slowly moving to a “diet” (HATE that word) that is as local and fresh as possible which is SO much easier to do in the summer months.
The beans you see ^^^ there are fresh from my garden.  As in, pick’em, wash’em gently steamed’em, ate’em!
Here’s a look at how my other plants are getting on: Everything is later than usual due to cold, wet weather in May & June, but things are starting to pick up!
We have been enjoying some treats, too!  Noah was at a sleep over last weekend so Jason, Sarah and I tried out a local “hole in the wall” type   Italian restaurant.  I find restaurants that are very unassuming usually have the BEST food and Pauli’s was no exception!  We loved our meal!
Sarah’s Orangina brought me right back to Italy and my roasted onion, goat cheese, prosciutto pizza was to die for!  Jason ordered a chicken parm dish with a side of pasta which he inhaled.  All their sauces, dough’s, pasta, etc are homemade, on site.  The way it should be, right?  ;)
On to some non food goodies!  I wanted to show you a shirt and pair of shoes that I snagged at 50% off this past weekend! LURVE!!!  The shoes are super cute and very comfortable and the shirt is in my fave colour!  SCORE!  And last week Jason and I attended an awards assembly at the school to see Noah receive a HEART award for cross county: Sarah also got a Win It award which is given for having a good attitude.  I think they got the wrong kid.  ;)  LOL  So proud of them both!  
So I think I’ll stop here.  I have a few other fun posts planned and a review coming later this week, so you’ll be seeing me more frequently….I promise!!
Bye for now!!

A Life Update

Hello!  I hope the weather has taken a turn for the better where you are because here it’s still quite chilly.  The sun has been shining, but the temps don’t seem to want to move in the right direction!  Sheesh!  April 9 will see DS’s first outdoor soccer game of the season so I hope it warms up by then. That’s him and a teammate before one of their (indoor) soccer games a few weeks ago.  :) 
This past week has been more low key than what we’re used to and I’m loving it!  I’ve been able to take a little extra time preparing meals which I feel I’ve really been lacking in this winter.  I’ve still be enjoying oats for breakfast for the most part, but there has been some French toast and toast & eggs in the mix, as well: Lunches have been all over the place.  There’ve been salads: sandwiches… and random items; I’m starting to get salad cravings more often now which is a good indicator to me that summer has got to be around the bend!  This new mango chipotle dressing from Kraft has been going down real smooth, too! My hubby and I grabbed our first DQ Blizzards of the year yesterday as an after lunch treat.  Yum!  I went with my fave; a mini caramel pecan cluster: We’ve been working at some home improvements, too.  Today  our new dining room set arrived so I’ll start with those pictures.  BEFORE:   Pretty bare, eh???  AFTER:        
I also bought (and my hubby installed) new curtains for the sliding glass doors in our dining room.  The before shot I’m going to show you is actually my front window, but it looks very similar to the back one; very traditional: And here is the new, updated look.
 
I tired to get the whole window, but the sun was too bright behind it so I did each panel separate.  I still have to take them down and iron them.  Not something I’m looking forward to!!  LOL   We also bought (and hubby installed) shelving for our very disorganized kitchen pantry.  BEFORE:

WHAT A MESS!  There was a huge improvement in the space once the shelves were up and everything was put back it.
***sigh***  So, so much better!  Now I can see (and find) what I’m looking for instead of rooting through piles of stuff.  The last bit of “work” we did was to paint an old dresser that use to be in DS’s room when he was a baby.  It’s now in our computer room and holds items such as blankets, extra pillows, clothes the kids have out grown, etc.  I decided to paint it chocolate brown and add some simple silver hardware to finish it off.  Not professional by any means, but it looks so much better and is no longer a big, white eye sore! 
And that’s pretty much what I’ve been up to lately! :)  Well, I think that’s all for now.  I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!!
Bye for now!!