40 New Recipes Before 40: 1-5

I am creating lots of lists that I would like to accomplish before I turn 40. And one of those many lists is this one... 40 New Recipes Before 40. I'm trying to up my skills in the kitchen by trying out some new recipes.

Because I just came up with this list over the weekend, I am only starting with any new recipes I've tried within the last week. I will try to chronicle this list with you, too. I did a lot of cooking this last week, so here we go...

1. Crock Pot Loaded Baked Potato Soup. I'm sure we all have a potato soup recipe that we know and love. But I did not. I have tried many potato soup recipes, but a lot of them were just "add a little of this and a little of that." I did not write down my recipe before so I could not really recreate it again. But this time, I searched the internet until I came up with a recipe that I wanted to try. And Oh. My. Goodness. Was it good?? It was amazing!! We served this up with some little dinner rolls for dipping. I had this for supper on Saturday night. Then lunch on Sunday. And again... lunch on Monday. It was the perfect soup to start the fall season (especially here in Kentucky where the weather has been cool, grey, and rainy).

2. Pumpkin Bread. Now I don't know about you guys... but I LOVE pumpkin bread. And what better way to start your autumn season than with soup and pumpkin bread?! This bread did not last long at my house. Both loaves were gone completely within 3 days. In fact, I still have some pumpkin and I might have to make a couple more loaves before the weekend, or maybe a bundt cake with it?! I made a simple glaze of butter, milk, and confectioners sugar to drizzle over this slice of bread below. But it, honestly, was so good without it. #glazenotnecessary

3. Pillsbury Crescent Cinnamon Rolls. Okay. So this, visually, was a complete failure! However, it did taste pretty good. I followed the directions in the recipe exactly. But the crescent dough was not easy to handle. And in hindsight, I might have done it all differently. The dough did not puff up. The filling oozed out all over the pan. It ended up tasting more like cinnamon toast... which I did not hate. This is actually what I made the glaze for (used on the pumpkin bread). I was so ashamed at the way these turned out that I did not photograph them. They looked HORRIBLE!! But they were eaten anyway.

4. Pioneer Woman Lighter Chicken Parmesan. This was amazing! I love most every recipe by Ree Drummond. I use her recipes all the time. This one was featured on one of her shows recently and I thought I would give it a try. So the Sunday before I started making these lists, I made this for dinner. Everyone loved it! And it was gone pretty fast. I also made The Bread (which my mother refers to as Crack Bread because it is so good). I am not including The Bread in my list of new recipes because I've been making this amazing wonder of deliciousness for years!

5. Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo. This was one recipe that surprised me. I thought it might be decent, but it was so much better! I grilled up some chicken inside on the grill pan with a little salt and pepper to add to my pasta. This really was the best Alfredo sauce I've had besides Olive Garden. I served this up with some frozen garlic breadsticks that filled the air in my kitchen as they baked in the oven. We ate on this for a couple of days, too. It was that good.

Overall, these five recipes were a good start to my 40 New Recipes Before 40. Comfort food always makes me feel good, like a warm hug. I cannot wait to try some more and add to my list! And I highly suggest you give some, if not all, of these recipes a try!

40 Before 40

I'm staring at 40... right in the face. 

I have just about eight months left in my thirties and I realize, now, that I have so much to do before I can turn the page on another year, another decade really. So this is my beginning. 

I posted to my Facebook page recently that I was looking for some ideas of what to put on my "40 Before 40" bucket list. Fifty-some-odd Comments later, I had a list that included a lot of traveling, skydiving, and adventures. I'm ruling out skydiving right now. That is something I am not at all interested in doing. Not today, not tomorrow, not by the time I turn 40. Traveling I do as often as I can, so that is easy to incorporate. And I just got to thinking about how I was going to go about adding things to my bucket list, and if it was important to chronicle it for others to see. I think it is more important for me to know that I am marking things off of my list, though I have decided to start this blog back up and include my accomplishments as I work toward becoming 40. 

For those of you reading, wish me luck. I've got a lot of things to work on!

 

This is me... Looking at you 40!

Spit it out

In my life, I have been accused of being a bitch or giving my opinion a lot more than I should. I have tried to bite my tongue with those opinions because I know that some of the things I say or think are probably hurtful. I do not apologize for the things I say, but sometimes my execution is not on par.

Even though I have this problem, I am still open and honest. I have talked about it on here before and I've said it in my personal life many times, but I so over someone lying to me. I don't care what your reason is behind it, it is not okay with me.

I talk about some very personal things with my closest friends. If my closest friends are going to lie to me, who I am supposed to trust? Just spit it out. Respect me enough to not lie to me and then act like you didn't. I think I deserve more than that.

Moods, Rudes, and 'Tudes

I don't really know what is going on out in the world these days, but whatever it is... we need to fix it. I feel like I've been dealing with bad moods, rude people, and intense attitudes the past month or so. I'm getting tired of dealing with hateful tones and smart comments. What reason is there for it? Why do we deserve to listen to it? To put up with it? I am trying to be a happy person right now, especially in this "blue period" I am experiencing... but I'm not trying to be rude to people. I guess I missed the memo on how to behave this year. If 2013 is going to be filled with this attitude, I think I'm ready to bypass it and move on to 2014.

Out With The Old

They say that with every new year is a new beginning. There are new adventures that wait for us and new discoveries to be made. In my case, there are new places to see and suitcases to pack. There are new passions to be found and new people to meet.

I am looking into 2013 with an open mind and a free spirit. I make no resolutions, ever (except that this year I will try to stop hogging all the laundry baskets in my bedroom). In saying that, I have opened up that book that I keep the list in. You know... my bucket list. Anyway... I fell short on so many things this year and my list has very few checkmarks. I know I must try harder to live my life for me... to find my true happiness... to love with my whole heart... and to experience all that I can.

Happy New Year from this thirtysomething girl... I believe 2013 is going to be my year.

A Year Goes By...

I wanted to write yesterday but I couldn't find the words. I wanted to sing yesterday but I couldn't hear the music. I wanted to dance yesterday but I couldn't wear the shoes.

So much goes on in a year. People move. Babies are born. Holidays memories are made. Vacations here and there. Through all of this, we grow and we heal from past hurts. Yesterday, I was hurting... even though I had healed a great deal in the past year, I was still hurting.

It's been a year since my grandfather passed away. A whole year. It seems like it was just yesterday that my sister, nephew, and I were driving home from her work conference. It seems like it was just yesterday that my mom went to the neurologist with my grandparents to get the diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease. But that isn't the diagnosis they got. What started out as a pretty good day, turned extremely sad and scary at the same time. That was November 3.

The doctors kept saying they were sorry. There wasn't much they could do. You'll have him for Thanksgiving, but never by Christmas. That's what they kept saying. And they were right. We celebrated my grandmother's birthday on the 19th, and then Thanksgiving on the 24th. We spent every day with my grandfather... at least for a little while. We listened to him. We sat with him. We watched him sleep.

The day he passed was a Sunday and we were there with him. My sister and I helped our Aunt Pat give him a bath that morning. He just didn't look like himself. Aunt Pat kept saying he wouldn't want to be there like that. So we helped with his bath and then Larea cut his hair and I shaved him. By the time we were finished this morning, he looked like my Poppa again.

I still see his face and hear his breathing. I remember that last breath like it were my own. The release of life is so sweet and yet so heartbreaking at the same time. I knew the moment he passed. I knew the exact moment he was gone. My sister did... and my father did, too. We all felt it inside of us. It was like a weight lifting off of us because we knew he was home.

Not one day goes by that my thoughts do not drift to him. I'm healing though. Slowly... I am healing. Another year will go by before I know it and I will be faced with the same sadness that I am facing now. But it will get better. They say "This too shall pass." I believe that. The pain and the hurt will pass, but the love and the memories will last forever.

Day 22: I Am Thankful For...

November 22: I am thankful for my dad and my mom.

 

(Have you ever seen a more handsome man? Or a woman more beautiful than her? 

I haven't... but my sister comes pretty close)

I see so much of my parents in me. I see little bits of their humor and I see some of their strengths and weaknesses. I see my mother's eyes and my father's hair. I have a little bit of my mom's personality, but I have a lot of my dad's attitude. I walk just like my daddy, especially when I'm in a hurry. I have my momma's habit of biting our nails. There are so many little things that I get from my parents that make me who I am. And I am so thankful for those little things.

Even more than the bits of them that are in me, I am thankful to have them as parents. My mom and dad are such amazing people. I have never known anyone else to have a heart like they do. They give so much... more than they should really. And they love so much... with all their hearts. I don't know how they did it, raising three children in their early twenties. Hell, I sometimes shy away from the idea of raising a kid now and I'm 33.

I could go on forever talking about how special my daddy made me feel at marching band competitions when he'd yell "Go Buzzy!" before our show opened. Or "That's my girl!!" when I'd actually win the trophy. I could ramble on for hours talking about how warm my momma makes my heart feel just by being there for me. How my eyes tear up every time I hear the song "I'll Be" by Reba McIntire or "The Best Day" by Taylor Swift. For some reason, those songs make me feel my momma's love so much more, whatever time of day I listen to them. I could go on and on talking about how they were both there for me in my darkest days... how they held my hand and helped me out of so many holes I had dug myself into. I could talk about how much they mean to me for a lifetime. They truly are the most wonderful people I know... and I love so much that I call them Daddy and Momma.