New Blog!

Hey everyone, I got a new blog! It is: lovingalancaster.blogspot.com

Come follow me there!

WOW, WOW, WOW

I can't believe that it has been almost 3 months since I was last able to update my blog... CRAZY!

Well, quite a few new things have come about.

1. Justin and I got ENGAGED! We got engaged on August 30th, while we were in California visiting my family. He took me out to an expensive dinner and then proposed later that night on the beach. (I had no clue that he was going to ask me.)

2. I got a new job! I got rehired at in-n-out burger. We opened our new store in Riverton, UT on July 21, 2010. I love it! I have gotten 3 raises in the past almost 2 months, and am on my way to getting another one soon (hopefully)! I love being back with in-n-out. They are a great company to work for, and I'm so excited that they are finally out here in Utah. We're the 5th of 6 stores that are currently in the Salt Lake area.

3. I'm moving out of Justin's parents house next Friday (September 24th). I'm going to be moving into what will be our apartment, and I'm going to get it ready for when we're married. It's right by the in-n-out that is in West Jordan at Jordan Landing. I'm so excited to start this new adventure!

4. We set our wedding date: November 13, 2010! It is 59 days from today! We both are so excited and cannot wait to FINALLY be husband and wife.

so, what's going on?

What's going on? I keep asking myself the same question, what's going on in my life? Well, I figure I'll take a few minutes to answer that question for myself and for my readers (who might be interested).

What's going on is this...

• Justin and I are AMAZING, could not be happier and things are definitely going in the right direction.
• I am in the process of interviewing for a job at the in-n-out opening up in Riverton. It's kinda weird that I'm going back to in-n-out, but I realize that I had so much fun working there before, and I actually know what I'm doing!
• Justin and I are saving our money for BIG things in the future, i.e. a wedding (someday), a house (someday), and a family (someday).
• I am trying to lose 15 pounds.
• Justin and I have lots of adventures planned for this summer.

And, I think that's pretty much it for now. I am definitely going to try even harder to keep this updated MORE throughout this summer!

Cooking Up a Storm!

So, I feel like I have been cooking up a storm lately. I made chicken pot pie last week, macaroni and cheese from scratch on Sunday, and then on Wednesday I made chicken cordon bleu and rice pilaf from scratch (all under 500 calories I might add).

Justin and I are trying to go on a diet and start exercising more, so I'm hoping to cook some more healthy meals, more often. I want to look good in a bikini this summer (or at least attempt to look good! LOL!).

I figured that I would share the chicken cordon bleu and rice pilaf recipes, so here they are!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Prep: 20 minutes Cook: 20 minutes Makes: 4 servings

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
4 slices prosciutto or cooked ham
4 slices Swiss cheese (3 ounces)
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1. Place each chicken breast half between two pieces of plastic wrap (or wax paper). Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound chicken lightly into rectangles about 1/8 inch thick. Remove plastic wrap.
2. Place a slice of prosciutto and a slice of cheese on each chicken piece. Fold in side edges; roll up from bottom edge. Secure with wooden toothpicks.
3. In a medium skillet cook rolls in hot butter over medium-low heat for 20 to 25 minutes or until no longer pink, turning to brown evenly. Remove toothpicks before serving.

Rice Pilaf

Prep: 20 minutes Cook: 15 minutes Makes: 4 to 6 side-dish servings

3/4 cup uncooked long grain rice or basmati rice

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup dried currants or raisins (optional)

1/4 cup chopped carrot or red or green sweet pepper

1/4 cup dry white wine, apple juice, or water

1/4 teaspoon dried basil, oregano, or Italian seasoning, crushed

1/2 cup green onion, sliced (4)

1/4 cup pine nuts, slivered almonds, or chopped pecans toasted

2 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled, or 1/4 cup chopped cooked ham

1. In a medium saucepan cook and stir the rice and garlic in hot butter for 3 to 5 minutes or until rice is light brown.
2. Carefully stir in the chicken broth, currants (if desired), carrot, wine, and basil. Bring mixture to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes or until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the green onion, pine nuts, and bacon.

*Note: You may substitute 1 3/4 cups water and 1 1/2 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon granules for the chicken broth.

I hope you try these recipes and enjoy them as much as Justin and I did (along with his family)! I served this with broccoli and cauliflower, and it added a perfect amount of vegetable flavors to the meal!

I'm definitely going to start sharing my HEALTHY recipes that I find, that Justin and I like.

DELICIOUS Chicken Pot Pie

So, Justin and I went out to eat the other night with Kyle and Rachael and the girls, and I ordered the chicken pot pie. When it came to the table, I was a little disappointed. Sitting on the plate/bowl in front of me was a GIANT piece of bread (that was similar to a crescent) on top of a bowl of soup. I ate it, with no complaints, but in my mind I kept thinking, I could have totally made a chicken pot pie that was way better than this!

Yesterday, while I was sitting at home filling out some papers for work, I decided that I was going to look in my cookbook to see if I had a recipe for chicken pot pie. Better Homes & Gardens let me down, no chicken pot pie recipe. Off to the internet I went. GOOGLE was my friend! It gave me SEVERAL different options for recipes, so I looked at them and decided on one.

I looked in the pantry figuring out what ingredients I would need, and off to the store I went. I decided to buy the pie crusts instead of making them homemade. YES homemade are better, but also a little more time consuming. I came home and put it all together. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. And, after the 15-20 minutes of "prepping the inside", it only took 30 minutes to cook. Justin's parents, and he and I enjoyed it for dinner. Everyone loved it, and for Justin who doesn't really like anything with bread (including chicken pot pie), he really liked it! In my mind, MOVE OVER Marie Callendar's, here come's Terri Ann! It was so good!

A few friends asked for the recipe, so here it is:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots (I used carrot chips, work just as well)
1 cup frozen peas
(I added 1 cup frozen corn, it added to the vegetables, and healthiness, and gave it a little bit of a sweet taste, you can also use 1/2 cup peas and 1/2 cup corn... either way will be GREAT!)
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth (which comes out to just about 1 regular sized can)
2/3 cup milk

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C)

2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery (and corn if you add the corn). Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.

3. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

(I cooked the chicken mixture and the "hot liquid mixture" at the same time in separate pans. It saved a lot of time!)

I hope that you try this recipe, it was DELICIOUS and I cannot wait to make it again!

The Best Boyfriend in the World

So, I have the best boyfriend in the world. He is amazing, I'm not even exaggerating!
He does things for me EVERYDAY that are amazing and show me how much he loves me (sometimes I feel like I don't do enough). But, yesterday was wonderful. He left for work at about 6:45ish, and at 7:02 I get a text from him, "I just broke my phone". I couldn't believe it! Our $400 phones, that he had been telling me for the past 2 weeks to be careful with, and not to break (especially not until we got insurance), he had just broken. He told me that he dropped it out of the truck when he got to work. So, I told him that I would call and purchase insurance for his phone, and then we could send in his phone for a new one. I called and they said I didn't have authorization to do that (which is weird because when we got our phones, we made sure that I had authorization on everything). So, he said he would take care of it on his lunch break. Luckily it was only a little bit of the corner of his screen that broke, so it still worked. He went into Verizon on his lunch break, bought the insurance, and then called me and asked if I wanted a cover for my phone. We had talked about it before that I didn't need one, that I would be SUPER careful with my phone, but that if I did get one, it had to be pink. So, I repeated that same thing to him, he said, "Well babe, I found one that's pink and I just want your phone to be safe, so we don't have to spend more money later." So, he bought me a bright pink cover, it is amazing! He is amazing, I still wonder how I got so lucky! He is always doing little things to surprise me, and it really makes my day, I really need to try and find things to do to show him how grateful I am for him.