30 Days of Truth-Day 3

Day 3- What’s something you have to forgive yourself for?

When I think about what this question means to me, it's what had a big impact on my life that I must forgive myself for getting involved in.  The one event that I forgive myself for is getting involved in a past relationship many years ago that turned abusive and remained abusive up until the very end.  It changed a lot of things in my life and my present relationships with people.

For the 5 years that I was in that relationship, it changed who I was.  I let myself get caught up in the drama, allowing myself to stay in a situation that was not safe, emotionally healthy or supportive because I was weak.  I allowed someone else to tear me down and have control over who I was when I was with him.  I allowed him to isolate me from my family, friends and every place that was comforting to me.  I allowed him to change the fun, caring and loving person I am today.  Over those 5 years, I lost a sense of who I was and what I loved.  I began a cycle of highs and lows and fell into a deep depression, which now I know is the cycle of abuse. 

I still remember the day that I finally was DONE, it was June 14, 2003.  It took awhile to fully "recover" from all the emotional abuse, but meeting Jey in August of 2003 showed me what a real man, friend and supporter was.  It's safe to say that it didn't take long for me to realize that Jey was perfect in every way.  I went from one extreme to the next, having been with someone so abusive to someone that would never say anything hurtful to me was such a nice change.  I have to be honest and say that it took me awhile to fully trust that Jey wasn't going to hurt me, but when I started to realize that he was there for me 100% it all fell into place.

So in conclusion, I forgive myself for staying in such an abusive relationship and allowing "HIM" to take me away from my family and change who I was many years ago.  I often think about if I didn't stay within that relationship where would I be today?  I definitely wouldn't be where I am, and that's with an amazing husband and two amazing kids...so I believe going through that and staying for so long was destiny and I'm right where I'm supposed to be; happy, safe and in love with my family!

30 Days of Truth - Day 2

Day 2- Something you love about yourself

I honestly am having a difficult time with this one.  I have even been stressing about this post since yesterday when I read my topic for today.  It seems to be easier for me to write about all the things I hate about myself rather than pick something I love about myself.  So, in my trying times I turned to Jey.  I asked him to be completely honest and tell me the main thing he loved about me hoping it would trigger something I loved about myself, and of course it did.  He said he loved that I was fun, energetic and a good mom.  I questioned him on the whole "good mom" thing because many times, I question whether I am really a "good mom."  That topic was definitely not something I could honestly write in this topic of "something I love about myself." 

Then I began to think of the other two things he mentioned about me, and I felt like there was something great about myself that I did love, and it too was that I am fun!!  I love dancing, singing, and just being plain crazy at times.  I'm loud, and even at times funny. ;)  I will try anything at least once and I tend to believe I get this free spirited attitude from my father, who is extremely witty and the life of the party. 

Growing up, my parents always took us places that were "fun;" what I mean by that is we would go do active things, Disney World, Busch Gardens, water parks, just things that as a kid you would think would be good ol' family FUN!  I hope that as my kids get older they realize how super cool and fun their mom is :), even if I'm not the "best mom" at times. 

Wow, I'm glad I wrote that.  It made me feel really good, and I realized that I do love something about myself!  I'M FUN!!

Layered Mexican Chicken

So not much to say about this recipe, it was bland and just plain boring!!  It's definitely not blog worthy, but since it was on my weekly menu plan, I wanted to post it.  I will not be making this again for our family, but maybe you fellow foodies can adjust some things and make it really good??  If you do take on this challenge, let me know how it goes!


Recipe Courtesy of: Weight Watchers: "BEST EATS"
Weight Watchers: 6 POINTS

Ingredients:

*2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
*3 cups fat-free sour cream
*2 (14oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
*2 (4oz) cans chopped green chiles, drained
*2 cups shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese
*2 teas ground cumin
*1/4 teas black pepper
*12 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into 2-inch strips
*1 cup salsa

Directions:

1. Combine the chicken and enough cold water to cover by 1 inch in a large saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, 15-20 minutes.  Transfer the chicken to a large bowl and let cool to room temperature.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.

3. Shred or cut the chicken into 1-inch pieces and return to the bowl.  Add the sour cream, beans, chiles, 1 cup of the cheese, the cumin and pepper; toss to combine.

4. Place half of the tortilla strips in an overlapping layer in the bottom of the pan.  Spoon half of the chicken mixture on top.  Place the remaining tortilla strips over the chicken mixture in an overlapping layer; top with the remaining chicken mixture.  Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of the cheese.  Bake until heated through and the cheese is melted, about 30 minutes.  Let stand 5 minutes, then cut into 12 portions and serve with the salsa.

30 Days of Truth-Day One

Let's be honest here, shall we?  I'm a new blogger and it's extremely hard to get my blog out there to the internet world for just the lack of "blog marketing knowledge!"  So, I'm starting this 30 days of truth thingy, that seems to be going around this blogging world.  Likely, I won't be doing it 30 days in a row, but I will do 30 days of truth!  So here we go....

Day 1-Something you hate about yourself

I have a hard time letting things go.  I am a good friend and loyal to a fault, you can screw me over a lot but once I reach a point, there is no coming back.

In some ways it's good because of the whole "fool me once" thinking.  But in other ways it's not so good.  I'm mad about stuff that happened 5 years ago with people that I still have to have a relationship with for whatever reason...I just can't let it go!!

Another issue is fully accepting the words "I'm sorry."  I feel like I can say "I'm Sorry" and truly mean it when I hurt someone I love, but hearing those words directed at me and fully accepting the apology is virtually impossible.  Like it would kill me to just let it go and start over....hmmmm, as you see this is definitely something I'd like to change about myself, holding onto grudges is just not healthy.

Parmesan Red Potatoes

I make these potatoes regularly and they are good with anything, so please do try! :)

Ingredients:

*1-2 pounds of red potatoes, quartered
*1/4 cup lemon juice
*1/3 cup butter, melted
*Parmesan cheese, shredded or shaved

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Cut potatoes and put in glass baking dish

3. Melt butter in bowl; add lemon juice and mix

4. Pour over potatoes, and cover baking dish with foil, bake approximately 30-40 minutes until tender

5. Sprinkle cheese on top and put back in oven (foil off) and bake another 5 minutes to melt cheese.

ENJOY!

Chicken Marsala

Recipe Courtesy of:  Weight Watchers: "Make it in Minutes"
Makes 4 servings
Weight Watchers: 4 POINTS

Ingredients:

*2 teas olive oil
*4 (4oz) thin-sliced skinless, boneless chicken breasts
*1/2 teas salt
*1/2 teas coarsely ground black pepper
*2 cups sliced mushrooms
*2 teas all-purpose flour
*1/4 cup dry Marsala wine
*1/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
*1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat.  Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.  Add to the skillet and saute until cooked through, about 3 minutes on each side.  Transfer the chicken to a platter and cover to keep warm.

2. Add the mushrooms to the skillet; saute until browned, about 3 minutes.  Sprinkle the mushrooms with the flour, stirring to blend.  Add the wine and broth; bring to a boil.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes longer.  Stir in the parsley.  Spoon the mushroom mixture over the chicken.

How to Make: Halloween Cookie Pops

Here I will show you how to make these cute and easy halloween cookie pops!  They are so easy, and perfect for favors at a halloween party!
 

Which ever color chocolate you are going to dip your cookie pops in, take a little chocolate and cover the lollipop stick and place the other half of the cookie back on top.  Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Melt your chocolate, I used the Candy Melts from Michaels.  Big reminder here: DO NOT PUT ANY LIQUID IN YOUR MELTED CHOCOLATE TO THIN IT OUT.  YES THE CHOCOLATE IS A LITTLE THICK.  IF YOU DO YOU WILL END UP RUINING THE CHOCOLATE AND IT WILL END UP LOOKING LIKE THIS!  THANKS JEY FOR YOUR BRIGHT IDEA!!

Finished one, with the choclate being thicker than just using the "dip and WOW you're done" because that method doesn't work well with these chocolates, I used a cake decorating spatula and just covered them that way, place them on wax paper so they are easily peeled off when cooled.  Oh, make sure if you are going to use sprinklers or anything like that put them on right way you are done covering them in the chocolate.

All wrapped up and ready to be delivered to Jackson's School tomorrow!

 

These are the molds, all you do is melt the chocolate, pour the choclate in the molds and put a stick through the bottom!  Simple and oh, so cute!!