Mock Dreamland Chicken
Going out to eat can be a little difficult when you are doing low carb! Luckily, I’ve found a restaurant that seems to “get” that!! We stumbled upon Becks as a low carb option when my dad wanted to go there for his birthday. When we went, we all got burgers, but we noticed someone eating chicken and vegetables. At the time, we weren’t doing low carb, but it stuck in the back of our minds. Fast forward a couple of months and we remembered Becks for a low carb meal. I got the Dreamland, which turned out to be delicious. I thought I would attempt to create the recipe at home:
Ingredients:
1 Sliced onion
Sliced mushrooms (I bought them pre-cut)
Olive Oil
Butter
Chicken
Worcestershire sauce
Lemon Pepper
Swiss Cheese
Hickory BBQ sauce
Directions:
Caramelize the onions and mushrooms in a pan. I put a teaspoon of olive oil and a tiny pat of butter in the pan to help caramelize it.
Cook the chicken any way you want, but I baked mine. I marinated mine with a little bit of lemon pepper and a little bit of Worcestershire sauce. Once the chicken is cooked through, put some swiss cheese on top of it and put it back in the oven for a minute or two or until the cheese starts to melt. 
Put the chicken on a plate and add the mushrooms/onion mix.
Cover the chicken, mushrooms, and onions with hickory BBQ sauce.
I thought my rendition of the Dreamland was just as good, if not better! Yea me!!
Eggs on the Go!
I’m constantly looking for recipes for my low carb diet. I was really excited when I found this idea that is easy to make AND a great time-saver!!
You can make about a week’s worth of eggs at one time using this recipe. I’m eating these for my mid-morning snack, but you can also eat it for breakfast or at some other time.
I worry about leftovers going bad, so I didn’t make all twelve eggs, but I think these should last about a week. Although, if it smells bad, don’t eat it!! I figure it will be about three days before they’re all eaten.
Ingredients:
Eggs
Pre-cooked sausage
Cheese
Jalapenos
**You can add other ingredients that you like, such as spinach, mushrooms, onions, etc. These are the things I like!
Directions:
Spray pam on a muffin pan. Add egg, sausage, cheese and jalapeños. Put in oven at 350 for about 15 minutes. Pull out of the oven and put them in your belly or in a tupperware for future meals on the go!
Loaded Cauliflower
Now that I’ve booked my cruise, it’s time to start eating more healthy. I’ve tried low carb before and it really seems to work, so I’ll try it again. I found this recipe on Facebook, and it kind of reminded me of loaded cheese fries, but with cauliflower instead of fries. I can’t find the website where I found this recipe. When I find it again, I’ll add the originator’s website. This was SOO good. I WILL be making this again!!
Ingredients:
1 large head of Cauliflower cut into bite size pieces (approx 6 cups)
6-8 strips of bacon cooked and crumbled (Cooked in oven at 400° for 20 mins)
6 Tbs chopped Chives
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Sour Cream
2 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese
8 oz container sliced mushrooms
Jalapeños to taste (optional) (I only put it on half)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°
In a large pot steam the cauliflower for about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl combine sour cream, mayo, 1/2 of crumbled bacon, 3 tbs chives, 1 cups of cheese,mushrooms, and cauliflower. Place the mix in a baking dish and cover with remaining 1 cup of cheese, chives, and rest of bacon crumbles. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted.
Black Eyed Peas with Hog Jowls
Happy New Years!! My mom always would make us Black Eyed Peas for the New Year. It’s about the only thing she cooks all year and it gets the year off to a good start!! My mom is the only person I know that puts lentils in her Black Eyed Peas. I looked it up and Lentils on New Years is an Italian custom and since she is Italian, that makes sense!! Both Black Eyed Peas and Lentils are eaten as a symbol for good luck and prosperity! I really want both, so this year I decided I was going to make my own Black Eyed Peas!
Recipe:
8 ounces Hog Jowls
2 cups of Black Eyed Peas
1/2 cup of Lentils
Pico De Gallo (I got this pre-made from Krogers)
1 can of Rotel
Pinch of salt and pepper
Tsp of sugar
1st step: Pick through the Black Eyed Peas and then soak them over night. 
2nd step: Boil the Hog Jowls for about an hour. 
Using the same water, add in the black eyed peas, lentils, and rest of the ingredients and simmer with the lid on for 2.5 hours or until the peas are tender
Born To Run
I am not a very good runner, but I kind of enjoy it. I’ve successfully completed Couch to 5K…several times. I usually quit running right after I get to 5K. This happens EVERY time I start running. My friend and I signed up for the Dallas Half Marathon, but about 3 weeks before the marathon, I quit running on a regular basis. I finished the Half Marathon, but it wasn’t pretty. By the 11th mile, I couldn’t even alternate running and walking and had to walk the last two miles. That’s ok. I still finished and I still got a medal. Of course I said I’d never do another one, but within 3 days, I was already planning to try again. This time I’m going to be in better shape!!
My friend found this work out on pinterest. I’m not sure where it originated, but since she did it, I had to, too!! I didn’t think I’d make it through the first time, but I did it!! Now I’ve done it twice!! I’m so proud!! I am hoping mixing it up like this will help me with my training for the Cowtown Half Marathon!! Maybe this will be the year that I actually lose some weight, too!!
Jalapeño Sausage Balls
This is a year of creating new Christmas traditions!! My new German Shepherd puppy, Kaizer, finally has all of his shots and is able to go to places that other dogs go. First stop on Christmas morning was to take him to the Katy Trail for a walk. While we were out, we noticed that the Katy Trail Ice House had the fire pits going, so after our walk, we went and warmed up by the fire. I’m not sure if they were open on Christmas day, but they were nice enough to come build a fire and leave water for all the people who exercise on the trail. Kaiser absolutely loved being out there and greeting all the other dogs. We have hereby renamed the Katy Trail to the Kaizer Trail and the Katy Trail Ice House is now the Kaizer Trail Ice House.
After the walk on the Katy Trail, we went home and made Jalapeño Sausage Balls. They were so delicious and will be how we start off all of our future Christmas mornings!! They are SO easy to make and they are SOOOOO good!! I wasn’t sure I’d like the jalapeño in them, so I made half with peppers and half without. From now on I will make them ALL with the jalapeños!!
2 Cups of Bisquick
1 Cup of Cheese
1 lb of browned sausage (I prefer the Hot)
Diced Jalapeños to taste
Combined the ingredients until all the Bisquick is mixed together and there is no dry flour. Roll the mixture in to small balls and put on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 – 25 minutes until brown.
Madeline Home-Made Costume
Halloween is pretty much my favorite day of the year! I LOVE coming up with cute costumes and figuring out a way to make them myself, almost always out of butcher paper. A costume parade has become a tradition for all the schools where I’ve worked. It has changed over the years from just costumes to a storybook character parade.
When my AP said she had a nun costume, I immediately suggested that Madeline would be a storybook to model our team after!! There aren’t 12 of us in the office, but I was sure it would work. I’m pretty sure I was right!!
Our capes were made out of a blue plastic table cloth, white plastic table cloth and a ribbon all stapled together. The hat was made of yellow butcher paper taped around the head, rolled up and a black ribbon tied around it, (see picture below to see how we wrapped the hat with tape.) We all wore black dresses, white socks and black shoes. Voila! An awesome group costume!! What do you think!?
Italian chicken salad
One thing I will tell you about a cruise is that you WILL gain weight. I had so much fun on the cruise, but I gained about 6 lbs. YIKES! I’d already gained about 15 since I moved back to Dallas, so 6 more is totally not acceptable to me!! PLUS, my 30 year reunion is in 2 more weeks. So, what is one to do in this situation? Get back on track. Start eating healthy.
I went to the book store and got a couple of South Beach Diet books. I’m not going to do the full diet. I don’t want anything that is restrictive, but they have some really good recipes in those books. I’ve already done grocery shopping and plan to eat my own cooking for lunch and dinner rather than eat a lean cuisine at lunch and go to a restaurant for dinner.
This one I kind of made up on my own, but it was really good!!
Baked Italian Chicken:
1 chicken breast
1/4 bottle of Zesty Italian Dressing Lite
Lemon pepper to taste
Put the chicken breast in a pan and cover it with the italian dressing, it doesn’t have to be all the way full of the dressing, just enough so there is a little at the bottom. Shake as much lemon pepper on top of the chicken as you like. Put in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour or until cooked thoroughly.
Salad:
50/50 Spring Mix
Zesty Italian Dressing, Lite
Mozzarella cheese
Baked italian dressing
(you can also add tomatoes, onions, etc on top)
Make a bed of lettuce. Put mozzarella cheese on top of the lettuce. Put chicken strips on top of the cheese. Cover with Italian Dressing.
You now have a healthy salad to eat that will fill you up!!
Time to Get Organized
I have never owned a planner before, but at my meeting yesterday I was so impressed at how everyone had their planners out and had everything so organized. Between my day job and Jamberry, I decided it was time to get organized. I looked at a lot of planners, and found the Erin Condren planners best fit my needs. They come in such CUTE styles and I like the way they are set up. My sister said they are planners on steroids!! I ordered mine today!! I can’t WAIT to get it in the mail!!! If you are interested in getting organized, you can get $10 off the planner if you follow my link!! https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/courtneythomas1027
Moscow Mules on the Roof
The best thing about my loft is the roof. I feel like I have my own personal oasis to wonder over all the hopes and dreams in Downtown Dallas. What a view I have!!
What better way to enjoy my view than to have a Moscow Mule on the Roof. The Moscow Mule is the “IN” drink of the season! In fact, I’ve read that the copper cups are the most stolen cup at the restaurants and bars that have them. I didn’t steal mine, of course, I got mine from Sears. I chose to get the 20 ounce cups so I don’t have to make more than one.
Moscow Mule Recipe:
2 shots of vodka
Half of a ginger beer
Squeeze half a lime in the drink
It’s pretty important to serve the Moscow Mule in a copper cup. It makes all the difference in the world!!
Be careful though. This is a STRONG drink. Drink responsibly!
Fabulous after FIFTY 