Breaking Habits

Some habits die hard. But some habits need to be broken. I have a few I can think of........

Television. Sleep. Late night snacking after work.

I'm sure you can figure out why I would say television and late night snacking. What about sleeping? Well, I just happen to love it too much. I've noticed that for the past year that my sleep patterns have caused me to in fact feel more tired and have less energy.  They say most healthy adults need 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best. Well I am well aware that I do indeed get the proper amount of hours needed, and yet I still feel awful. So I have narrowed it down to one BIG reason, not enough physical activity during the day. This does not mean that I sit on my butt all day but there are a ton of things I could do to improve the amount of activity I get. So I guess it is breaking the habit of being inactive more than changing my sleep patterns. They will go together to make me feel better though. So here is the plan.

1. Aim for the suggested 7.5 - 9 hours.
2. Get ready for bed and brush them teeth after getting home from work. I usually get home between 130 and 2 am. I need to learn to just go to bed because I am tired, but my mind is going going going from the night at work.

3. Eat a snack between dinner and when you get out of work. I usually have my break (if we get one) between 530 and 7. That would leave me 5 hours to eat a snack so I'm not starving by the time I get home. Lets work on this.

4. Wake up when my eyes open, not when I think the time is appropriate. My eyes open for a reason, use it. Enjoy the day and it leaves extra time for me to be active throughout the day.

5. Aim to get at least 1 hour of planned exercise on most days. 

6. Stay away from the couch/TV. (This will take some work, since I do love my shows!)

Criminal Minds...Love it!

I believe that these habits will come a little easier now that the dreaded winter is getting farther away and we are now past daylight savings.... more hours of daylight, YES! Which means waking up to sunlight shining in your face, the warmth of the sun on your skin, the budding of flowers, and all that beauty that spring has to offer. I can't wait!

Turkey Joes

When the man and I first started dating, all I can say is HOLY ANXIETY when it came time for me to cook for him. I believe it was a combination of relationship jitters, my constant need for perfection in a dish, oh and the fact that by trade he is a chef. Bingo! It has taken some time to change my interpretation of his "suggestions" into something other than criticism. If I wanted to completely humiliate myself I would explain to you the scenario of what our kitchen rants would sound like. Ok, you've twisted my arm, I will share. Just because it makes me laugh at how ridiculous it sounds.

Me: "Can you taste this to see if it needs anything?"

Him: "Ok." As he takes a spoon and smacks his palate together a few times, waving his hand in the air as if some mystery man was going to come down and poop the answer into his head.

Me: Annoyed. "Well?"

Him: "Maybe just some more salt and pepper."

Me: Throws towel onto counter. "You know what, you can just cook for yourself from now on."

The End.

Really? No.....REALLY???

I can honestly say that I am no longer a complete A word when asking for suggestions. I love cooking with him and know that his sense of taste is a little more complex than mine. I have a habit of eating random combinations together that he most certainly would not try. That's for another post though.

So the point of the somewhat long introduction in this post was to elude to how Melissa's Turkey Joes came to exist. It was the first dish I made for him a few years ago, when I finally just didn't care what he thought and created a simple yet very delicious meal, that he asks for ALL the time.


Turkey Joes a la Melissa
Ingredients
2 lbs ground turkey
1 1/2-2 cups onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, minced (ribs and seeds removed)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp ground mustard
1 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp spicy montreal steak seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
4 cups tomato sauce
4 tbsp tomato paste
Lil bit of olive oil
Black pepper to your liking

Saute onions and peppers in "lil bit of olive oil" until tender.

Add ground turkey and montreal steak seasoning, brown meat. Add remaining seasonings, then worcestershire sauce and vinegar.

Stir to combine all ingredients, then add your tomato sauce and paste. Let simmer together for 15 to 20 minutes to allow all flavors to combine.

Serve on your favorite bread or however you like.

Disregard awful photography. It tastes MUCH better than it looks!

I've made this and placed it on a salad before. I pretty much will put anything on a salad. Except tomatoes. Yuck.

The man and I cut the recipe in half today so we wouldn't have as many leftovers. This recipes makes a good amount, definitely more than enough to feed a family of four. Unless I'm feeding my dogs turkey joes, we are only a family of two at the moment.  I'm pretty sure it has made the family happy though because this is what I am left with.

Hope everyone enjoyed their St. Patty's Day!!

Good Morning Oats

I'm having a hard time deciding what I want to eat these days. Nothing seems appetizing. Maybe it's because always in the back of my mind is my lack of chocolate. It is day seven in the NO SWEETS ZONE and all I want to do is bake something! I don't necessarily want to eat it, but baking and eating pretty much go together. It's not rocket science.

So I started the day off with some oatmeal love.

In the Mix
1/2 cup oats
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
2 tsp sugar free maple syrup
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 cup water

It was just what I needed. It filled me up, and made me smile. Is there a better way to start the day?

Now it's time to get this body moving with some Zumba and continue on with my daily dreaded chores.

Got Milk?

Some days you just don't feel like cooking. Or maybe it's that you don't feel like cooking for one. *sigh* So instead of slaving over the stove for a much more interesting, nutritious  and satisfying meal, you do this.

Which happens to be featured in the highlight of my day. New bowls from one of my favorite stores, Target. It's not often that I find something I really enjoy while shopping in their small selection of cheapy items that are located right when you walk through the door. Because a store doesn't do that on purpose, obviously. Today was different. How could I NOT buy these cute little bowls that screamed spring? For $5....was it worth it? Definitely.

It's the little things in life that make your heart smile. Remember that.

And also remember, that milk goes bad way too fast when not enjoyed in a timely manner. So my dinner is now VOID. Got milk? I don't.

Pantry Crawl Shrimp

The cloudy overcast doesn't do wonders for my internal clock. I don't think it helps anyone, but I only know from my personal experience that when the sun isn't shining, this girl isn't either!

I woke up to the devastating news of the tsunami in Japan and Hawaii, how sad. I'm a huge wimp when it comes to anything weather related. Maybe in another life I got stuck in a tornado? Held onto a tree during a hurricane, only to blow off at the last minute? I am not making a joke of these horrible natural disasters. When I say that I am truly sorry for the lost lives, I really do mean it, it makes my heart sad.

So to make the day better, my love went and got me iced coffee. I swear, if he never bought me another thing again except iced coffee, I could be happy. Well, let me rethink that...it is one of those "in the moment" statements.

Breakfast: Eggs with turkey sausage and a side of healthy banana!

I was so excited when I finally got the save the dates out in the mail the other day, it only took me forever. Well, yesterday they all came back. I guess I should have checked with Mr. Postman on how much the postage would be for said shaped envelopes, Oops! FAIL! It happens..... so I thought I would share with you our cute save the date. They make me happy.

Lunch: I decided it would be a good time to eat the rest of my burger from yesterday. On the side I added some green pepper slices for a little CRUNCH!

I'm still feeling under the weather so I had to cancel my plans for today. Based on how I've felt the past few days after going out and getting things done, I need to stay home, hydrate, rest and get better so my weekend full of work doesn't kick my behind.

So, I cooked instead. It is the little things in life that make you happy, and for me making good meals at home is where it's at today. The honored guest of the evening.... Mr. Shrimp and a few of his buddies.

I'm trying to cut back on the grocery shopping bill and only go when we are out of our staples. So after a little brain pickin' I decided I would use what ingredients I have on hand and what I LOVE. Olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, parsley and maybe a little lemon. Simple, tasty, perfect.

After I started to cook some other ingredients fell into place, parmesan cheese and pasta. Meal complete.

I leave you with this. Hopefully in a few hours, I will be doing the same.

Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives: Stop #1

The man and I have toyed with the idea of visiting the hot spots that Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives raves about, whenever we have the chance. Well, today seemed like a great day to start our little adventure!

Today we made our way to Corey's Catsup and Mustard- The Burger Bar located in Manchester, Connecticut. While driving down Main Street, we didn't know if we were in the right area but there it was on the corner, a little brick building with a pretty noticeable sign with none other than a burger and it's appropriate condiments.

For 1230 in the afternoon, the place was full and there was a wait time of about 30 minutes. The bar was lined up with men feasting their eyes on burgers, beers, and basketball, the Uconn game was on.

After we sat, ordered our drinks it was time to go over their menu.

They had a lot of choices which you can see if you check out their website. Most of them looked pretty good. I liked how if you wanted, you could substitute a veggie burger or turkey burger, which it seems most places do now.

One item that caught my eye was the Jersey Shore burger. It wasn't the ingredients that triggered my interest, but the bottom line "Snooki Approved". Really, they had to go there?

I ended up choosing their Rodeo Burger. Whenever I'm in the mood for a burger, the combination just screams my name. For me personally, anything with BBQ sauce tastes good....it's just something I have always loved and won't live my life without. To be different I did order it with their pretzel roll.

It took a little longer than expected to come out, and I was about ready to chew my own hand off! (Ok, a little less drama, please!) So I occupied myself with a little table top menu browsing.

I didn't see this episode of DD&D, but I'm sure this is what was featured. Interesting combinations, not sure I would try them. I would be interested to see how many people do get them though? It's like a BBQ in your mouth for one and brunch for the other. The middle one, LOTS of things going on...ok moving on.

I thought I would test myself since I've given up sweets. Yeah, all I'm going to say is come Easter, I know where I'm going to get my dessert on.

Finally, FOOD!

So how many pictures can you take of a burger? A lot I suppose, but I stopped at four.  

I only ate half the burger which allowed me to satisfy my craving and tried to remain mindful that I am getting married in three months.

My review: I thought the place was cool. Not too big, not too small. The atmosphere was upbeat, but cozy in it's own way. The service was good and the people were friendly. The burgers were juicy and the chef and I give them 7/10 (0 being really bad, to 10 being the exact opposite of really bad). I enjoyed the pretzel bun but probably wouldn't get it again. I would definitely go back, but try a turkey burger or chicken sandwich. They do have a variety of items that I know I would enjoy. 

All in all, good day with this handsome guy.

Hrm, where will our next adventure take us?!?

No sweatin' the sweets day one

Well, so far so good. Those yummy cookies I baked the other day, you know the ones that that oozed with chocolate and butterscotch, that called out to me every time I walked near the kitchen. Well, they were removed from the house today *tear* and given to my family and friends. Better off near them than wasted since our house is a NO SWEETS ZONE.

Today started off nice and early, thanks to my lovely other half who decided to blast some sort of music from a website right next to my once peacefully sleeping ear. He is lucky that I'm still not 100% and it's too much effort to speak to have made a nasty comment.

Breakfast: Wasn't in the mood to make anything extreme, so made up a nice chocolate peanut butter smoothie to enjoy in my most favorite mug (at the moment, it changes well regularly!)

I spent the morning getting some wedding things figured out in regards to flowers. When I first started all the wedding planning, my vision for the wedding was unclear. Now I know that I am definitely in a traditional romantic theme with little hints of Melissa flair. It's all coming together quite nicely!

Since I was out and about with two of my favorite girls today we decided to stop at Panera Bread for a late lunch.

Lunch: I chose the BBQ chopped chicken salad again and because I was so hungry I failed at photographing my food before it went into my belly. Food bloggin' FAIL! Here's a repeat, not very appealing picture of my favorite salad of the moment. (It does not compare to Chili's Quesadilla Explosion Salad BUT being that that salad is over 1200 calories, I think I'll pick my battles!)

My sister, and my BF Lauren helped me to get a lot accomplished today with the flowers, and we were able to get my centerpieces figured out. Now I am in full blown wedding planning mode again. So off to do more planning! I leave you with a little tidbit of my future.....

But everything will be much better than this. *Big smile*

Lent + Sweets + Inactivity

So today marks the beginning of 40 days where some people give up something important to them, and some don't. While I do not want to get into my religious beliefs on this blog, I am going to participate in the Lent ritual. I have decided that during Lent this year, I will be saying "NO" to sweets, meaning all of them. *shudder* AND committing to 40 days of exercise and physical activity.

The best part....the man is doing it with me! Well, I'm not going to hold my breathe on the exercising part. But, he did say he would support me and go the no sweet street with me as well. Yay!

There will be no couch potato days like this......

Disclaimer: Old photo from *bad* camera and disregard upside down cushion. The man does not notice the things that so irk this woman!

There will be no indulgences like this.....

The picture may not be great but hands down the best bread pudding with caramel sauce I have EVER had!

Since the title of this blog screams what I'm passionate about, anything paired with chocolate tastes better, it'll definitely make for a challenge. But, I guess I'll just have to settle for my other love in life...KISSES!!!

I'm hoping by committing to 40 days straight of exercise that it'll get me back into my old habits where I loved to get up early in the morning before the man, and get a great workout in. I felt better, I had more energy, and I got a lot more accomplished. Plus, it'll help me feel better for MY WEDDING! 93 days and counting.....