5 Ingredient Meal

So I was computing yesterday looking for recipes for the week and I ended up on kraft.com and I stumbled across a recipe for Grilled Greek Chicken Kabobs......last time Eric and I made kabobs they didn't turn out the best so I decided to follow the recipe but skip the kabob part.....check it out below!

GREEK CHICKEN

1/2 cup KRAFT Greek Vinaigrette Dressing

2 Tbsp. KRAFT Real Mayo Mayonnaise

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 red onion, cut into rings

1 lemon, halved

MIX dressing and mayo; pour over chicken in shallow dish. Stir to evenly coat all chicken pieces. Refrigerate to marinate.

HEAT grill to medium-high heat.

GRILL until chicken and onion rings until done, turning occasionally. Meanwhile, place lemon, cut-sides down, on grill grate next to kabobs; grill until heated through.

SQUEEZE lemon juice over chicken just before serving.

Eric got our onion rings a little scorched....it happens

As you can see I added grilled zucchini and yellow squash to our meal which is DELICIOUS!!! We've never grilled veggies and my parents were here this past week and I decided we should try it and the result is GREAT!! I drizzle olive oil over cut squash/zucchini and sprinkle with seasoned salt, black pepper and a little garlic powder. Then I mix it all up to ensure its evenly distributed and ask Eric to put them on the grill!!

Eric and I were working in the yard late yesterday afternoon and one of the neighbors came up and let us know they were having some people who moved in this week over for a BBQ and let us know that we could come over. We had fun and its nice to be able to walk across the yard to get home! Granted we were about 5-10 years younger than everyone there. They were all talking about what year then graduated from high school and they turned to us and we said 2004....."WHAT THE 2000's that's crazy"......... and we don't have kids.....so we were a little out of the loop. The new neighbors have a 3 year old and a 5 week old.

Tonight we are trying a new recipe.....Carne Asada.....and NO I didn't get the recipe off of kraft.com!!!

Well long time no post! Sorry about my absence but we've just had a lot going on here in the Big O! Here are a few updates on our lives!

JOB:
--I'm really LOVING my new job. I forgot how much I truly enjoy working with older adults.
--Well being a manager is definitely a learning curve and I'm still learning my role but I think I'm getting the hang out of it...I hope atleast

House:
--Our first daylily come out today!



Graduation:

Last weekend I made the trek to South Central, Kansas for my cousin's graduation from Skyline High School!

We had a good time giving awards to various people......best shoes (cute pink high heels on the graduate next to Brian)......worst shoes (well.....I she probably should have been wearing shoes to get this award but she wasn't)


Partner in crime

The weekend before we were in Kansas City for Eric's cousins home school high school graduation....which was most definitely a first for me.

Candace with the boys

Around Town:
--Eric and I went to Lazlos on the lawn last night. It was PERFECT weather....I do believe we were the only ones with a K-State lawn chair....lots of red if you know what I mean. It was great to have a few drinks and listen to some live bands.

Well not big plans around here but I think maybe I'll try to find some new recipes to try. We've also talked about going putt-putting......time will tell!

MIA

Well I will be MIA for a few days as my parents are in town visiting and won't have time to blog!! I was out of town for the weekend at my cousins graduation....fun times....with pictures to follow. Hope you're all having a great week out there!!

Kraft Magazine

I know....I know! You all think I'm CRAZY when it comes to kraft.com BUT a perk of my job is that we get the Kraft magazine and I get to have it! And what did I find on the New Products page.......YES Chipotle Mayo

I tried it on my sandwich for lunch today and I enjoyed it!

I was corrected when I told you all that I had just dug my first hole......

AWWW wasn't I cute!

SO BUSY!

Sorry that I missed posting last night....Eric and I have been SUPER BUSY.......planting our plants/flowers in our landscaping project!! Due to rain and some other issues our plan to have me plant on my week off did not go as expected.....so our plants were delivered on Tuesday (supposed to be in Monday....another story) but it took us 2 nights of planting to get it all done! Take a look!!

BEFORE

AFTER

Last time we were at Menards I bought some gardening gloves!! Aren't they cute?!?!.............not so much anymore...they are a tad dirty!

This was my first time doing any gardening/landscaping........and my husband went golfing after work on Tuesday which meant I was on my own to start the project! AGH!! After calling my wonderful mother-in-law to answer some questions :-) I got dirty....literally!

My first hole!! Super exciting....

Lilac bushes surrounded by day lillies

Front of the house

Now all we need is to get our mulch down and we are done for now at least!

AND I even made dinner!!! Homemade pizza!

First day down!

Well I've completed my first day....YHEW! For the next 2 weeks I'm learning the ropes as the Director of Foodservices and then for 2 weeks I'll focus on clinical stuff. Following that I'm off to training for 3 days in Norfolk on MDS (not sure what that is yet) but think it has something to do with care plans for residents. THEN I'm ON MY OWN!! It's a little weird being introduced as "this is your new boss" but I'm getting more used to hearing it after today.

Eric and I did have plans to plant our plants today but they aren't here......guess I better call the landscaping people. I wish people would call if there are a change of plans......so we will make it to small group tonight after all.

Check out this Cool Summer Treat that I discovered at the grocery store recently! It's only 60 calories, 1 g fat, and you get some Vitamin C!
Yes they are weight watchers but they are so tasty......ERIC even agrees! So for a healthy summer treat try the Strawberry Smoothie bars! Short post tonight since we are headed to small group soon! Hope you all had a wonderful Monday!

New Beginnings

Well.....tomorrow is the day....starting my new job!!!! YIKES! It's exciting to start a new job but also scary. I don't really know what's in store for me.....

We were in KC this weekend helping Eric's cousin celebrate her high school graduation. It was great to see everyone and we got to celebrate Alan and Christy's 30th Wedding Anniversary with our immediate family. We went to dinner on the plaza and walked around for awhile in the rain Saturday night....

Eric and I have realized that our summer weekends are quickly filling up and its looking like we won't be home much.....I guess that's the time of our life.

Not much to report as we were gone this weekend but wish we luck tomorrow on my 2nd big person job..... :-)

AMAZING CHICKEN ENCHILADAS!

So my experiment worked. As I'm sure you're all aware I'm in love with the Southwest Chicken Salad since I've featured it TWICE.......

HERE'S Jill's Chicken Enchiladas:
Spray baking dish with cooking spray and lightly cover bottom of pan with enchilada sauce.

Warm up tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds and dip each tortilla individually in warm enchilada sauce. I placed 1/2 cup SW chicken salad and some shredded cheese and rolled up and placed in baking dish.

I covered top with cheese, extra cilantro and green onions.

I baked at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. AND ENJOY!!!

So Bush's Grillin Beans Commercial has really worked on me! I drove to the store yesterday to specifically get the Black Bean Fiesta. The commericals were right they are SO GOOD!

Both Eric and I really liked them......just like in the commercial Eric asked where I found the recipe! Well I opened the can and baked them! I'm excited to try some other varieties!

NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE WHAT I'VE TOLD YOU TO DO....make the Southwest Chicken Salad here is the link to it!

Days of a stay-at-home wife

Yes that's right I'm back to being a stay-at-home wife.....even if its just for a week! Those of you who have followed me from the beginning know that I started this blog to chronicle of my life as a stay-at-home wife......more like making fun of myself and the things that I did to entertain myself during those LONG days while I was searching for a job and my hubby was off at work.

MY Top 10 Duties of a stay-at-home wife:

1. Laundry

I can do number 1 and work on number 8 at the same time :-)

2. Clean the house

3. Dodge all phone calls (okay so this is a new one.....but I don't answer my phone anymore unless I know who it is) It was hard enough having to break up with 3 bosses and a few referral sources.....now I let my voicemail break up with them. I'm averaging about 3 calls per day and my new voicemail is doing the trick...no voicemails! :-) It's very weird for me to listen to my phone ring and to ignore it after months of jumping for the phone in order not to miss a possible referral.

4. Supervise the lawnscaping crew

If it doesn't rain tomorrow then they should be back tomorrow to till in some soil and then I can plant some lovely plants/flowers! That will be an adventure in itself......

5. Work out at whatever time of day I choose. Yesterday at noon....Today around 2:45....Tomorrow to be determined :-)

6. Beauty Sleep (unless my cell phone rings and wakes me up ....which of course I'm ignoring)

7. Have dinner on the table (okay so not literally the moment he gets home but I've usually done so prep work)

8. Catch up on my DVR'ed shows (okay so I DVR'ed some movies that were on TV this past weekend....I knew I might get bored....I'm averaging 1 per day.....)

9. Answer my husbands every beckon call.....HAHA!! NOT!

10. ENJOY MY WEEK OFF! MOST DEFINITELY!!!!

Tonight I'm trying out my own version of chicken enchiladas. If they turn out great you can expect the recipe later this week. We also had manicotti earlier this week.....YUM!

Bowling Injury.....

Yes I do believe I have a bowling injury from Saturday.....what does this mean?!?!

1. I'm really out of shape
OR
2. Used some muscles that I haven't used in awhile

I promise I've been working out so I really don't think its number 1.....I'll go with option number 2. The "unique" aspect of this injury is that it is only "one cheek" that's causing me a lot of pain.....yes that's right. Yesterday I was really "feeling the pain" and I wasn't sure what had caused my "injury" so last night I did a reenactment of my bowling.....OUCH! Eric is enjoying making fun of me....what can I say 3 games of bowling can really cause some damage.

I went to workout this morning and It really hurts to run on the treadmill....I can usually workout the pain at least while I'm working out but not so much today! I had a nice walk. :-)

While we are on the subject of exercise. Today I had to go to my new job and get a physical. I was slightly surprised that I was going to the long term care facility to have it done but I went with it. They told me to dress comfortably so of course I was wondering if this meant I could wear workout clothes.....lets just say Eric was NO help! I ended up wearing workout pants and a t-shirt. I was glad I did.

Here was my physical:
They took my blood pressure and pulse....good on both

1. Lift hands above head 10 times....check
2. Do 10 squats...check
3. Bend over to touch your toes 10 times....check
4. Lift 45 lbs.....EEK!....check (YHEW!!)
5. Do 75 steps on a stair-stepper....check

Re-checked my pulse....and it barely changed....that's right!

Sooo.....You can rest assured I passed. I think Eric was worried about me passing as he called during his lunch hour to check on things. When I called him back he mentioned how happy I sounded on my new voicemail message. Lets just say Eric is enjoying having his happy wife back! :-)

FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK....THE STAY-AT-HOME WIFE IS BACK
(at least for this week)
STAY TUNED!

Happy Mothers Day!

And most definitely not to me!

Apparently my blog title yesterday, "9 months Baby" had a few people think we were announcing something. Sorry to confuse, excite, scare people (most importantly my brother-in-law) but those of you closest to us we will most definitely tell you in person before we post on our blog :-) His text gave me a good laugh....guess it was a good play on words....even though I wasn't trying to be funny....

But I do want to give a shout out to my mom! LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Thank you for EVERYTHING you do! You are so giving and I've enjoyed becoming friends over the past couple of years!

Also, my first mothers day with a mother-in-law. Thanks for bringing and raising my wonderful husband into this world. You are a wonderful and special woman.

Happy Mothers Day to all of you current and future mothers!

9 months Baby!

Eric and I had lots to celebrate this weekend!
1. Done with my job!
2. Married 9 months today!!
3. Celebrating the weekend!!!

Friday night we went to a Dante Pizzeria Napolento which is a semi-new restaurant in Omaha which features wood-food grill pizza....yes dad we can go when you come to visit. We were going to go to a movie, Date Night specifically but we didn't get done with dinner in time to go.

Onto Saturday.....Happy 9 months babe!

Arbys....fancy I know! We had a coupon for a free combo and it was close to the bowling alley....yes the bowling alley!

We started out even "almost"....

End of GAME 1

This was upscale bowling alley....couches took the place of traditional bowling alley chairs

End of GAME 2.....I'm doing better....

Eric's happy because I didn't beat him....oh yeah and he got like multiple strikes in a row!

Game 3.......We originally were only going to play 2 games but I HAD to get above 100. I got 3 spares and a strike all in a row! Eric says I'm pretty good for a girl...I guess that's a compliment.

True Nebraskan

Well one day it had to happen and I happened to have a deadline...May 31st. My Kansas car tags were set to expire at the end of the month so I decided while I have the time I should head to the DMV and get things set up.

You didn't think I'd really put my own tags up did you... :-)

WHAT A PROCESS NEBRASKA! First I had to have my car "inspected".....basically I paid $10 to have them write down my odometer reading....seriously. Then on into the office to wait in line....and wait some more....and you guessed it I got to wait some more. The computers crashed so they were even slower than normal. Finally I get to the counter and when I bought my car in 2003 my dad's name was also put on the title. THANK YOU Kansas for not having to have both people on the title have to sign the title....Seriously it says Randy OR Jill not AND! But they had never had anyone from a different state, with a different last name (yes I was smart enough to bring my marriage certificate WHEW!) and want to get a title and register in the great state of Nebraska.

NO WORRIES I had to sign the back of the title like I was selling it to myself from my old last name to my new last name. AND NOW I have Nebraska plates.......okay I haven't put them on the car yet but I at least have them ;-)

I also now have a Nebraska cell-phone number and will using that number exclusively. If you want my number just let me know!



As you all should know if you are a faithful follower.....tomorrow is MY LAST DAY at work!!! PRETTY EXCITING. I've already been planning my new voicemail for my phone :-) You can count on it 5:00 o'clock tomorrow it will no longer be.....This is Jill ****, Registered Dietitian with ******, I'm currently with a patient. If this is after 5 or on the weekend, or need immediate assistance please call 800-***-****. (It was something like that)

I think my new voice mail message will be. Hey you've reached Jill ****, leave me a message. If you're trying to contact ****** please call 800-***-**** as I am no longer working for *****. BOOYAH! (okay probably minus the BOOYAH)

OKAY WELL TUNE IN TOMORROW TO FIND OUT HOW ERIC AND I DECIDE TO CELEBRATE!

Cinco De Mayo

Well when I was looking for new recipes to try this week.....of course on Kraft.com....my new favorite place to get recipes....who would have known what a treasure I had stumbled upon. If you haven't checked it out I highly suggest it. Lots of recipes had a Mexican flare this week because as I'm sure you're all aware today is Cinco de Mayo. So in honor I'm featuring a new favorite recipe of Eric and I's.....however, I altered the recipe because the original called for me to fry them......and how could I fry something after my post yesterday.....Eric did beg to register for a deep fryer.....he didn't win that one :-) SO I baked them and they turned out SUPER YUMMY!!!

Chimichangas

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 cup finely chopped onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

8 Flour Tortillas (we used whole wheat.....of course)

6 oz. VELVEETA, cut into 8 slices

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup Sour Cream

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

BROWN meat in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain. Add onions, garlic, oregano and pepper; mix well. Cook until onions are tender, stirring occasionally; drain.

PLACE 1/4 cup meat mixture onto center of each tortilla; top with VELVEETA. Fold in all sides of tortillas to completely enclose filling; secure with wooden toothpicks. Place in single layer on baking sheet; Brush tops with oil.

PREHEAT OVEN to 350 degree F. Bake until golden brown around 15-20 minutes. Remove toothpicks. Serve topped with sour cream and cilantro.

If you must fry your chimichangas click here for the original recipe.....but I'm watching you ;-)

ENJOY!! HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

P.S. I really think you should try this simple but delicious recipe....okay thanks!

Heart Attack Waiting to Happen

Well last night Eric and I ventured out to grab a bite before our small group so we choose Don and Millie's a local fast food joint that we thought we should try to be true Omahaians?!?! So I had heard talk they were famous for their Frenchies......so we walk in and this is how the conversation unfolds:

Eric: "What's a frenchie?"
Behind the Counter lady:"It's a deep fat fried grilled cheese sandwich with mayo"
Jill: As I'm trying not to gag on the floor
Eric: I'll get the double cheeseburger

The conversation halts while we get our ketchup and at the counter they also had a ketchup style dispenser for ranch dressing (help yourself style)...a real health conscious place

Conversation resumes.....
Eric: Gosh that's a heart attack waiting to happen
Jill: Still to shocked to speak....sitting in silence
Eric: That's like a state fair food.....not a fastfood food.....definitely not an everyday food....

Ahh you gotta love my husband he's learning.....

Here's the culprit....I found the picture off the internet....so hopefully I'm not false advertising....

In the spirit of my heart attack post I guess its fitting that I've been waiting for tonight FOREVER.......Biggest Loser MAKEOVER WEEK!!!! Seriously every week I've looked over at Eric and said...."I hope next week is makeover week" and finally my wish has came true. Now I know I haven't been talking up the biggest loser this season but I'm just not connecting with the contestants as much this season...I'm still watching but its not necessarily something that I just can't wait till Tuesday night.....My favorite is Darius and I hope he makes it all the way. So I'm eagerly awaiting our evening of TV watching....but first I'll have to go workout!! Haven't decided whether I'm going to brave the Nebraska wind or head to the gym....time will tell.....

Darius is in the orange in case you're not a faithful follower.....which you probably should be