Can you believe? It's been ALMOST a year!

Today Facebook memories reminded me of a blog post I made over a year ago. It reminded me that it had been a long time since I have posted anything (almost a YEAR!). I'm not sure why I stopped posting, I found blogging to be fun and somewhat therapeutic. So, while I make no promises I may not be able to keep, I'll see if I can get back into this.

You all know I hate playing catch up, but 2015 was a BIG one for me, so I have to give you a year in review.

First, the year started off with a move in with Eric in February. If you don't know Eric, stay tuned...it gets better. :) Throughout the spring there were baseball games, family parties, and then.................. an engagement!

Photo: Brittany Thomas Photography www.brittany-thomas.com

Eric and I were engaged on May 20th after a wonderful dinner at our favorite restaurant and a walk along the water in historic Fells Point in Baltimore, Maryland. It was so very romantic. <3 We wasted no time and started planning a wedding. There were engagement parties, bachelorette parties, bridal showers, and lots of fun to be had surrounded by loving family and friends. We even managed to get a baseball trip to Cincinnati in there! 

My Bachelorette Party in Ocean City, MD

My beautiful bridesmaids at my shower! 

Eric and I were married on November 13th in Baltimore, Maryland. It was a beautiful wedding filled with many memories and stories that we have to share and reminisce on over the years to come. 

Photo: Brittany Thomas Photography www.brittany-thomas.com

So, now we finish the holiday season out as husband and wife and are ready to head into the New Year. I hope that everyone's year was filled with as much love and happiness as mine was and I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2016. 

I'll be back soon with some new posts and some new recipes, I've been cooking up a storm recently and have lots to share! 

I lost 5 lbs! And made an awesome chicken recipe!

Resetting my Weight Watchers account and starting fresh was the best thing I could have done. It has allowed me to see the little victory's as big victory's just like when I first joined the program. To read more about it, head over to my Weight Watcher's Blog. 

So...on to the food. My amazing Aunt and Uncle gave me the Skinny Taste Cookbook for Christmas this year and I couldn't be happier. It has so many amazing recipes that are easy to make and don't require a lot of unique ingredients (which makes for a happy new cook). Last week, I tried my first recipe from the book, Chicken Rollatini stuffed with Zucchini and Mozzarella. Can I just say AMAZING? It was soooo delicious, I was "licking the plate!" (actually I should say pan, since I was trying to get every last bit of gooey cheese I could). 

The prep time on this recipe was a little more than expected, so I was glad that I didn't get fancy with sides when I made it. Basically its a lot of shredding of cheese and zucchini, and some pre cooking. 

 

It smelled awesome while cooking. It took about 25 minutes which, while not a quick weeknight dinner, allowed some time for a glass of wine and for me to set the table. Once done it came out bubbling and ready to devour. :)

I served it with green beans with spray butter and reduced fat crescent rolls. A perfect ~ 10 pp dinner.

Here is the recipe on the Skinny Taste Blog if you are interested. 

 http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/08/chicken-rollatini-stuffed-with-zucchini.html

Welcome Back to Weight Watchers

Hi Everyone and Happy New Year!

Clearly, I've been MIA for awhile, but I'm back now with a new Weight Watchers blog post. Head on over to check it out and keep checking here for some new posts. 

Licking the Plate Worthy Bangin' Shrimp

Here's a little pre-story to this post. I came up with the name for this blog when I first started blogging on the Weight Watcher's website. I named it Licking the Plate of Life, because early in my Weight Watcher's journey, I kept finding myself licking the plate or tray of Smart One's meals in pure hunger to try and get every last bite of food and calorie in my body (reference the this WW blog post). As I began to look at food differently, this activity stopped and I thought to myself, I'm now licking the plate of a healthy life instead, hence the name of my blog!

Now, since I tell you that, I must say that this recipe had me glancing around, realizing I was home alone, and simply put,...licking the plate.

First, I have to send a huge THANK YOU out to my friend Robin for sending me the idea and recipe for the bangin' shrimp sauce. I'm officially hooked.

So here we go. The shrimp sauce is light mayo, thai sweet chili sauce, siracha, and green onion. I used 5 tbsp mayo, 3 tbsp chili sauce, 1 tsp siracha. I cut up my green onion and reserved it on the side to toss with everything at the end.

Since I'm little miss lazy pants and didn't feel like peeling, de-veining, and steaming shrimp, I took a short cut and used a bag of Gorton's Frozen Garlic Grilled Shrimp. I wasn't sure how to garlic would go over, but it turned out awesome. I chose to cook them in the oven  because, like I said, I was feeling lazy and they actually taste great this way. 

(pic is of finished shrimp)

I also steamed some broccoli in my Pampered Chef microwave steamer (jeez, I really was feeling lazy) and sauteed the green onions for a few minutes in a skillet. 

Once the broccoli and shrimp was done, I threw everything together in a skillet over medium heat and added the sauce. I tossed it together and let it simmer and sizzle for about a minute to get nice and hot. 

It turned out to make about 3 cups worth. I counted that 1 cup/serving would put you right around 4 WW points. 

Since it was only about 4 points, I took it upon myself to eat 2 servings (and lick the plate) instead of serving it over rice. But I thought it would taste good with some brown rice on the bottom. 

In any way, it is definitely my new favorite recipe, and a sauce I will be using not only on shrimp. Robin gave me the tip that using greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise lowered the points value even more and that she tried it with chicken and broccoli.

So, if you plan on coming over for dinner anytime soon, you can be pretty sure this recipe in some form is going to be hitting the dining room table. 

Adventures in Pinterest Cooking #4

Last night I got home from work and was starving. Since the roommate was out, I decided to try a new recipe. This way I wouldn't embarrass myself when disaster strikes (which it is bound to do when I try a new recipe).

I haven't been to the store this week, so I was working with what I had in the fridge and on hand. I remembered I had some shallots and that I love shallots, so I went searching on Pinterest for an easy pasta recipe using shallots. Within minutes I had in hand a recipe for Angel Hair Pasta with Shallots, Garlic, Broccoli & Lemon (Pinterest never disappoints)!

So I got started. I managed to cut everything without taking off a finger, although I did drop the slippery lemon approximately 2 times as it rolled off the counter. Here's your ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil (for in pan), 1 box angel hair pasta (prepared per box instructions), 2 cups chopped broccoli, 1 large shallot diced, 3 garlic cloves diced, 1 tbsp of butter, 1/2 cup of white wine, & 1/2 lemon (for juicing)

First I sauteed the shallots until they softened on medium for about 5 minutes.I added the broccoli and sauteed another 4-5 minutes. Then I added the garlic for another 2 minutes and then the white wine until it reduced by half (a few more minutes). Finally I added the lemon juice and butter and stirred until the butter was melted.

  

          

After the pasta was cooked and drained, I added it to the pan and stirred everything well. Then I plated the pasta. I had some Manchego cheese leftover from another recipe, so I grated that on top for a little extra flavor. 

Now, I'd like to say that this tasted as good as it looked. But really it didn't. Which is why I haven't referenced the Pinterest recipe/blog I got it from. I have no doubt, it was operator/untrained chef error on my part. I did think that the broccoli, shallot mixture was good, it just seemed to not come together when the wine was added and everything was mixed with the pasta. It needed more. 

Perhaps, it needed a stronger cheese, maybe more garlic, I'm not sure. But if you want to original recipe and want to show me up and do it right drop me an email. :) 

Hello Fall! Goodbye Summer!

Hi Everyone!

I know I'm a little behind on this post, since we said goodbye to summer about a month ago, but I'm finally feeling like fall is here and the craziness has settled down for me.

These past few months have been life changing to say the least. Let's see- there were  a few weddings and celebrations, a vacation, a couple of races and a new workout routine, and a new job. Whew, I am tired just thinking about it.

Let's start with the weddings! This year, I added 3 more weddings to my long list (It seems I'm working towards the 27 Dresses Fairy-tale, I think we are at about 16...). In May we had Jen and Tony's wedding, then in September was Amanda and Brett's truly fairy-tale Cinderella wedding, and in October the beautiful beach wedding of my best friend Shelly and her new husband Ryan. Here's some highlights!

Getting down at Jen and Tony's Wedding! 

Amanda's Bachelorette Party in OC! 

Shelly's Bachelorette in Baltimore!

Shelly and Ryan's Ceremony in OBX!

My BFF is Married! 

Vacation this year in OBX with my family was also as wonderful as ever. We did a Raven's beach photo shoot, and I caught my very first fish. (May I also note, for my first time fishing, I caught the first fish of the head boat AND the most fish of anyone in my family!)

Our Family Raven's O-Line

My First Fishy

Sunset in Nags Head

What else! Oh! I ran a few races. First as a part of NS FIT Run A was the Women's Distance Festival. Then I did a few more 5K's, one for the 4th of July and one in the fall for NFRC which is a non-profit close to my heart! On top of that, my good friend Stacy got me involved with Extreme Fun and Fit Bootcamp  and now I've been going there to get my workout on even more! (By the way, if you live in Howard County, they have an AWESOME Groupon going on right now...you should try it!)

Run A at WDF 

Remembrance Run with Neighbor Sandy

Me and Elizabeth Running NFRC 5K

Finally, I took a promotion at work and became a member of Associate Professional Staff, which was something I have been really working towards in the 5 years I have been here. I even got to do some work travel. I took a few trips to Albuquerque, New Mexico and one to Boston! 

Me at the top of the Sandia Mountain Tram

So, now that we are all caught up and settled in, I can finally get back to basics and this blog. I hope everyone stuck around even though the posts were few and far between. I'll be sure to get back later this week with maybe a new dinner recipe or I'm sure some post about one of the crazy boot camp workouts, or maybe both! 

Friday Favorites #8- May Madness

The month of May has been an absolute whirlwind of work, fun, family, and so much more. Not to be sappy, but looking back on the month has me thinking how blessed I am. With all the things I complain about and stress about and lose sleep about, this has been a wonderful month. I have to remember to write my troubles in the sand, and carve my blessings in stone. So here's a little stone carving of my whirlwind month in review wrapped up as Friday Favorites #8.

First, May has been full of runs, fun, and the running community. I hit a bunch of personal records for May, and those aren't even including my Thursday training runs! I was able to go out and support a few friends in the Warrior Dash. And, I finished up the month with a Memorial Day Remembrance run that my loving Mom came out to support me in!

Second, May has been full of all my favorite Baltimore things. Orioles baseball, steamed crabs, fire pits, and the start of family pool parties. I know there is so much more of this to come this summer!

Third, who doesn't love a good wedding? Congratulations to my cousin Tony and his new bride Jen! I am so excited to have been a part of their special day. Welcome to the family Jen! 

Finally, I saw this on a friends Facebook, and think it should be my motto for the next month. So it's my final favorite thing. 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and don't forget....