Seven years later....

James and I are finally engaged!!
I know, it's hard to believe. So here's the story:


We were in Las Vegas for a vacation with our 4 other friends.  We all went down to the pool at the MGM for a little sun time.  While down there, Kristin and I found some abandoned tubes to use in the lazy river.  Since there were only two, we said we would share them with James and Jimmy when we were done.  After once around the river, we went back and gave the tubes to the boys.  James kept saying how he didn't want to go in and Jimmy kept trying to convince him to go in.  Then I started in with the "Party pooper, party pooper" and poked him in the chest a few times.  After about three minutes of this, he pulls a box from his pocket and opens it.  In it is a huge, shiny ring.  He says "This is why I can't go into the pool! Do you want to get married?".  I responded with "Is that thing real?".  It was all very confusing and fast.  Once he "popped the question", Kristin started screaming behind me, Corinne was asking if someone got stung by a bee and Danielle was stuttering saying I don't think so.  James kept asking "Do you want this or not?" and I kept asking "Is it real?".  So finally he said "I'm going to give this to someone else if you don't say yes".  I finally agreed to say yes, he put the ring on my finger, which of course didn't fit my man hands.  He then went and swam in the lazy river with Jimmy.
I had to wear the ring on my pinky for the rest of the trip because it didn't fit on my massive, beast like fingers.  On the Tuesday when we returned from Vegas I went to get it sized at the jewelers.  While at the jewelers, the woman helping me commented on how large my fingers actually were.  We had a debate for a good ten minutes on what size my ring should be and if my hands were going to grow to mammoth sizes. Not an awkward conversation at all....
So that's the story.  It's one to remember for ages. As of right now our plans are to get married in Las Vegas in the Fall of 2011.  So watch the mail for your save the date cards!

March Madness

Last summer we purchased our March Madness NCAA tickets for the first two opening rounds and since then I've been way excited for the games to start.  Well last week they were finally here!  We found out in February that we were in the lower bowl on the 7th row.  They were awesome tickets, except for the fact that they were directly behind the basket stand.  But we were able to manage through the games :)

Cooking

I love cooking and trying out new recipes.  I'm not one to just make up new recipes, but I do make my own changes to ones I try out.  Each time I'm trying out a new recipe, I wish that someone had told me little secrets or tips about the recipe.  Soooo I'm going to post new recipes I try out along with my variations and hopefully someone out there will appreciate that I endured the torture that accompanies trying a new recipe and that I posted my new found secrets. 

Enjoy!

Caldo Verde

Today I made Caldo Verde, which is surprisingly similar to the Zuppa Toscana from Olive Garden, but not as creamy.  It's a weight watchers recipe, but I think if I add some light whipping cream it could still be low-fat and deliciousness at the same time.

Here is the recipe:

1 spray nonstick cooking spray
1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 oz turkey sausage, cut into 1/2 thick rounds
4 cups chicken broth
1 medium baking potato, about 8 oz, peeled

4 cups stemmed and shredded kale

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 dashes hot red pepper sauce

Instructions:
1. Spray a large saucepan with nonstick spray; set over medium heat.  Add the onion; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 20 seconds.
2. Add the sausage; cook, stirring often, until browned, about 5 minutes.
3. Pour in broth; bring to a simmer, stirring often.

4. Using the small holes of a box grater, grate the potato into the stew.  Stir well while returning to a simmer.  Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring a couple times.

5. Stir in the kale; cover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the kale is tender, about 12 minutes.  Stir in the salt, pepper, and hot red pepper sauce before serving.

Nutrition:
Serving Size:  1 1/2 cups
4 Points per serving.

Variations:
*Onions: I used frozen chopped onions.  I always have some on hand.  Much more convenient than fresh onions, and they aren't that bad.
*Sausage:  I bought the Jennie-O turkey sausage.  You couldn't really cut it into 1/2" thick rounds.  So I cut what I could and then cut that in half.  It was more "chunk like" than anything else.
*Broth:  A carton of broth is 4 1/2 cups, so I used all of it.
*Potato: I definitely used 2 medium/large potatoes.  And I didn't grate them, I cut the potato length wise, twice.  Then sliced it thin enough to cook quickly, which was about 1/8" thick.
*Kale:  A "bale" of kale was more than enough for the recipe.

*Hot red pepper sauce:  I don't like my food to be spicy, since I have acid reflux.  But James added Cajun seasoning to his bowl and it tasted ok. 

*I did not use a saucepan for the whole recipe.  It definitely would not have fit everything.  I put the broth into a pot and cooked it for a little while before adding the sausage/onions/garlic mixture.    That worked out a lot better. 
*Obviously I topped it off with some parm cheese.

Yummy Salsa & Bean Lasagna Rolls

I found this recipe the other day while searching for a traditional lasagna recipe. It sounded amazing and as it turns out, it tasted amazing as well!

Salsa & Bean Lasagna Rolls

Prep: 25 Minutes

Bake: 40 Minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 can (15oz) black beans, drained and rinsed

6 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 can (4oz) chopped green chilies

1/2 cup chopped red onion

3oz shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (about 3/4 cup)

1 jar (16oz) chunky salsa

8 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

8oz shredded Cheddar cheese (about 2 cups)

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions:

Mash beans with a fork, in small bowl until they are smooth

Stir the cream cheese, chili powder, chilies, onion and Monterey Jack cheese in a medium bowl.

Spread 1/2 cup salsa in a 2-quart baking dish. Spread each noodle with mashed beans and cream cheese mixture. Roll up jelly-roll style and place seam side down in the baking dish. Top with the remaining salsa and Cheddar cheese. Cover dish with foil.

Bake at 375 degrees, for 40 minutes or until it's hot and bubbling. Sprinkle with the cilantro.

*Variations (changes I made to the recipe):

I used Shredded Mexi-Mix cheese instead of the two separate cheeses.

After getting through about 4 rolls, I was running out of the bean mixture. I ended up opening a can of refried beans and using that on the rest.

I only had enough cheese mixture for 6 1/2 rolls.

I don't like cilantro, so I didn't use it.

I always add more cheese to all my recipes (even if it doesn't call for cheese, I still add it, I love cheese!)

Ramen

This explains my life. And up until 2 months ago I was in college still, but I'm going to carry my love of Ramen over into adulthood. I've had Ramen twice already this week, and not just for lunch. I just wish all the sodium in it didn't make my heart feel like it was going to pound out of my chest for about an hour after I eat it.

Sadness

So I'd like to be posting that we had an awesome time on our cruise... But we didn't. We never even got to leave Buffalo. Our flight was canceled Saturday morning by Delta, who in my mind probably has the worst customer service ever. I'd like to say that I let out my frustrations to them, but I couldn't. They turned us (30 people) away from the airport and told us to find alternate transportation down to Puerto Rico to catch our cruise ship by Sunday at 5pm. They were very aware that we were with a large group that included a bride and groom who were to be married on Monday on St Thomas. I still can't believe that they were so incredibly inconsiderate. Talk about a lack of customer service. Then as we go home and try to figure things out, we call the Delta 1-800 hotline and were met with "Due to the sever weather happening, we cannot help you at this time". Click. Not even a chance to speak with a human being to help you. After calling my wonderful Uncle Mark who works for Jet Blue, and the travel agent who booked our trip, we came to the conclusion that, unless we were willing to pay about $700 a person for a one way ticket to San Juan and drive to either Chicago or Philly, AND possibly not even make it to the cruise ship if we were delayed even a little bit, this cruise just wasn't in our cards. Luckily the bride, groom and the groom's mom found a Delta flight, but had to drive to Baltimore to catch it. They ended up making the ship a few hours before it departed. We don't know about the family members who drove to Chicago and Philly, we are hoping they made it. We have travel insurance, which would have covered part of the new plane ticket (but none of the agents could tell me how much), but now will hopefully cover the full cost of our trip. I can only remember a few times in my life that I have had such a hard time making a decision, which in this case was to just give up. I have felt sick to my stomach that we weren't able to see our good friends Kelly and Paul get married. We have looked forward to this since last February when we sent of the RSVP marked "F Yes we want to go". After being so excited for so long, and to have such a let down, makes me sick/sad/depressed. I can't believe there are businesses out there with these kinds of practices. I have sent an e-mail to Delta, in which I referred to their company as "horrid", and was upset that "I still have reservations on your airline in April and will once again have to endure the torture that is your customer service". I won't get anywhere with this e-mail, and even if they decided to answer the phone and I were to actually speak to a human being, it wouldn't matter because they don't care, which completely sucks. So for the next week, if you see me, I will not be happy and will not want to talk to ANYONE, unless you are the CEO of Delta.

Graph of the day

This was today's graph of the day. It's fitting since we are leaving for the cruise in the morning and James has a Speedo he "thinks" he is going to wear. If he can find it.... Never leave your bags unattended!!

College Degree Part Deuce

It's official! I graduated from Buffalo State College with a Bachelor's degree!! Hooray! Two degrees down, one to go! Cross your fingers I get a good GMAT score and that I'm accepted into the UB MBA program!

Yes, delete now.

I have certain movies that I have DVR'd, watched, but never deleted. I watch these movies when I don't like what's on TV and have some time to kill, such as yesterday when I wasn't feeling well and James was at work. One of my favorite movies that I have DVR'd is Step Up. Yes, I know, I'm an adult and shouldn't be watching movies that involve a high school love story, but I love it! If you haven't seen it you should go watch it immediately, but that is my own opinion. (Channing Tatum is H-O-T!!). As everyone with DVR knows, at the end of the show you have two options. "No, do not delete" and "Yes, delete now". I am usually so careful with my saved movies that sometimes I stop them before the credits so I don't have the option to screw up. You can probably tell where I am going with this... I, for some unknown, completely obtuse reason, chose "Yes, delete now". About 3 seconds later when I realized what I had done in my sickness filled haze, I screeched out loud "NNNNOOOOOOO" in such agony, that Tank jumped off my lap and ran into the kitchen because he was scared. I felt sick to my stomach. What had I just done? When James got home from work, I told him of my stupidity and he responded with "Good, I hate that movie". I have forced him to watch the movie several times and if he arrives home while I'm watching it, I make him finish the movie with me. I might be crazy for feeling such agony over a movie I could easily buy on DVD, but there was comfort knowing that Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan were there in just a click of the remote.