Jake's too sexy...

...for his fluffy kitty ears.

p.s. How can you not love the expression on his face?

Onion-Roasted Potatoes

This is a recipe that my mom first made when I was a kid. She made them in the mircowave (if I remember correctly) but they've been a favorite of mine ever since. I love making them, but I bake them in the oven, which I think makes them even better.

Enjoy!

Onion-Roasted Potatoes

Original Recipe and photograph by Lipton Soup Mixes

Prep Time: 10 minutes, Cook Time: 40 minutes, TOTAL: 50 minutes

4 servings

-1 envelope Lipton French Onion Soup mix

-4-5 medium potatoes (I use Yukon Gold potatoes because they cook better than Russet), cut into chunks.

-1/3 cup oil (I use EVOO)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a 13x9 glass baking dish, combine all ingredients.

2. Bake, stirring occasionally, for 40 minutes or until tender and golden brown.

Lent: Day 1

I should preface this post by saying I've lost about 8 pounds so far. You can't tell from my perspective, but those pesky pounds are gone and I hope they stay in weightloss land.

I'm hoping to lose 20 pounds total by April 15th...the tax deadline. Think I can do it?

Today was a good day. Busy days at work make the hours fly by, or is that not a good thing?

Sorry for the randomness. I need 5 minutes away from emails and check runs.

Ash Wednesday

I am not Catholic...well, not fully. I was baptized in the Catholic faith and married in a Catholic church. I feel comfortable in the Catholic church and know *some* of the motions/movements during mass. I've only taken Communion once, and it was out of respect for my grandmother at her funeral. I do not eat meat on Good Friday, and I do practice Lent (or try too). I have never had the ash cross placed on my forehead for Ash Wednesday. I'm thinking of going to Mass tonight.




As for Lent, I try to give something up that is near and dear to me. For the past 3-4 years, I've tried to give up fast food, which I regrettably fail at. I always slip. This year, I plan to fulfill my promise to give of myself for God and Jesus' sacrifices.



I will try to catalog my 40 days and 40 nights as I know any sacrifice has it's ups and downs. I'm also hoping that with this sacrifice comes getting over my addiction to french fries (yeah right) and losing even more weight to get healthier for Jake and my future child.

By the way...hi Cheekygirl and Cala! ;)

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Maple Chipotle Sauce

This recipe is from Cooking Light magazine, which Jake and I have the 2009 recipe book. We decided to try this recipe since I was determined to find a recipe that includes Chipotle peppers without burning my tongue into oblivion. This was sweet from the maple with just a hint of bite from the spicy. And the meat/sauce turned out just like the picture. No joke.

Enjoy!

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Maple Chipotle sauce

From Cooking Light Magazine

4 servings

PORK:

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground allspice

1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimemd

2 teaspoons olive oil

SAUCE:

1 (7oz) can Chipotle peppers, canned in adobo sauce

1/2 cup maple syrup

3 tablespoons chicken broth

1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1. To prep pork, combine first 6 ingredients; sprinkle and rub evenly over/into pork. Place in large ziploxk bag; seal and refrigerate 3 hours (I did this for 1 hour instead of 3 and it came out fine)

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3. Remove pork from bag. Place pork in a roasting pan; drizzle with oil. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove pork from pan; cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

4. To prep sauce, remove 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from can of chiles; reserve remaining chiles/adobo for another use. Add 2 tsp adobo sauce, syrup, broth and vinegar to roasting pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Place pork back into pan, turning to coat with sauce. You can also spoon sauce onto pork. Remove pork from pan, reserving sauce in pan. Cut pork into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Strain sauce into a bowl, serve with pork.

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Jan Gautro

Hitting a bump

Today is one of those days I've talked about in my and Jake's TTC journey. Today, I hit a bump. Today we found out that Jake's sister is having a boy.

Jake and I have dreamed of having a boy. I'm not one of those people who says "I'd love to have a boy because I want the big brother to look out for his little sister". I've never been a person like that. I thought I had always wanted a girl because...well...I am a girl. But then I saw the glint in Jake's eyes as we talked about the possibility of having a boy. I saw how in love with the idea of a son Jake was and the look in his eyes when we picked names at the beginning of this whole darn thing. From then on, I knew we would love any baby God decided to give us, but we would prefer a boy.

When Jake's sister announced that she'd be having a son, my heart sank. A baby is a miracle, don't get me wrong and I'm hoping (despite her missteps throughout her pregnancy and her blatant disregard for tact in my direction) that her baby is healthy and happy. But it still hurts. It hurts to know Jake and I are still fighting so hard for a baby and we can't seem to get there yet.

I know this is all up to God and I just have to be patient but damn...when is enough, enough? How much longer are Jake and I going to have to suffer to get this right? And the kicker is, just when I think everything is OK and I'm accepting of what's been handed to me, something like today happens. It makes things a little harder. It makes it a little more difficult to swallow that I'm still fighting, and it doesn't seem to ever end.

I just hope when we get to meet OUR TRUE MIRACLE, that all these tears and hurting will fade away as if it never happened. God, I hope so...

Weekly video 2/12/10

Instead of a weekly video, I will post a milestone.

Today, Jake and I have been married for 1,000 days. Yup, you heard that right. I can't believe how much time has gone by. It's insane!

Happy "anniversary" Jake. I love you!

The Weight Crusade

Pretty much everyone who reads this blog (I love you all!) knows I've struggled with weight for pretty much my entire life. It's been quite an adventure for me. I've done Slim Fast, Hydroxycut, some pill in a teal bottle with a black cap (I forget the name), and 3 bouts with Weight Watchers. All ending in me giving up. I've had very motivated moments, some of which are documented on this blog and others I've kept to myself.

I was told by my RE that I needed to lose about 11-14% of my weight, which would help alleviate the PCOS and possibly help me spontaneously ovulate on my own. I tried and failed to lose weight for my wedding, for my whole life, and I'd failed miserably. Even when I see pictures of myself from the wedding, I'm pretty disgusted with myself. So I decided to make a change. I would lose the weight for myself, but more for the baby that's waiting for me to get off my butt and become the person I need to be to become a mother.

Jake wanted to try NutriSystem. I'm not a fan. My logic is this: what happens if NutriSystem doesn't work? Or goes out of business? Or causes medical problems because of the chemicalized food? In the end, you'll still have to deal with REAL FOOD. I'd rather deal with the real thing straight off and not worry about having to keep up with the cost of the food in tiny packages that tastes like cardboard. So, we decided to do this together.

So far, as of today, I've lost 7.5 pounds. And that's WITH yesterday's Super Bowl fiesta. I just hope that with trying to make myself accountable with this blog, I don't feel extra pressure to get this done. I want to be like Julie Powell (from Julie & Julia), finally finishing something in my life. With this journey will come some new recipes which I hope to share.

Weekly video 2/5/10

First, I must say "Happy Birthday" to my grandmother. Happy Birthday Grammie!

So, onto our weekly video. Last weekend, Jake and I discovered (for ourselves) this comedian who is hilarious, and a ventriloquist. This is Jeff Dunham with "Peanut".

Enjoy!

When the hurt hits home

I apologize for my recent major absence. I've been dealing with a lot of emotional trials lately, some of which I'm not sure how to handle yet.

One really big thing is something someone in my family said about me last week. Most know what happened, but some don't. When a comment was made as a jab at Jake at my expense, I was heartbroken. Basically what happened is Jake revealed on Facebook that this person was smoking while pregnant and their response to his comment?

"Whatever...at least I can have a baby. Oops, was that mean? Sorry"

Jake and I have been fighting to have a baby for the past 2 and a half years. To see someone so close to us say something so hurtful and ignorant tore me to pieces. I literally was on the phone with my mom for almost an hour in tears almost unable to breathe. Jake and I did a lot of praying that night. Since then, I'm not sure how to act. I see this person practically every day and I'm at a loss as how to act around her. I keep reminding myself that these are the trials I signed up for in my marriage and Jake and I will get through this. It doesn't make it hurt less. How do you explain the pain I experience knowing I can't get pregnant...not yet. I would never wish this pain on anyone, not even her. I'm having a hard time having faith that God will see this through for us and I don't need to get to her level...because I can. I can get down and dirty and I can pull punches that hit WAY below the belt. But I just don't want too. I don't want to feel that what I did was wrong. Sure instant gratification would be nice to say something mean, but then I know I would feel horrible straight off, so I don't do it.

Again, I'm sorry I've been neglectful in blogging. It's just this one comment suddenly made me think "I'm sorry" to my family for not being able to add another member, sorry to Jake for not being the wife I should. Just sorry.