Happy 2011!

Happy New Year! and Merry Christmas too...seems I have been out of the blogosphere for a while. Let's see, where to begin....

I met a guy named Brandon at the beginning of November and we have been dating since. We really enjoy spending time together and he seems to fit in pretty well with the family. We're taking time to get to know one another and see where things go; I'm really happy. We have been quite busy during the last few weeks traveling and doing fun winter things. We went snowboarding a couple weeks ago- fun, but I literally bruised my butt. We also went to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland a week or so before Christmas and I got a few things to decorate my apartment....That place is awesome and has a lot of gorgeous stuff, but holy land of ticky-tacky Christmas crap.

Christmas was really nice. I went home Christmas Eve day and hung out with Michael for a while. Mom and Dad were visiting my grandparents and when the arrived home, we had pizza and wine...yummy. We finished the evening with some games of Scattergories and Pass the Pigs. The next morning, Aunt Joie came over and we all opened gifts. Santa got me an automatic car starter...wahoo! It will be soooo nice to be able to hit the button when I get up and have the car be warm when I am ready to go to class. I also got some great books and some dishes from Michael. We all sat down for breakfast and then Aunt Joie headed home. We spent the day watching movies and hanging out. Mom made a really yummy traditional dinner of turkey and all the fixings. The next day, Brandon and I headed to my Uncle Jim's house to meet up with the rest of the extended family. Uncle Jim prepared a great buffet lunch and then it was time for gifts; the younger kids all opened gifts from the rest of the family and then the rest of us did our traditional White Elephant gift game. It was a lot of fun and was really nice to be able to have everyone all together.

New Year's Eve this year was very low key and relaxing. Brandon and I decided not to fight crowds, so we went to Meijer and bought all the ingredients to make dinner. We made a Meatza....a pizza with a meat "crust", toppings, sauce and cheese...more carb friendly than regular pizza. We watched the first season of Glee- well, I watched and he kinda pretended to, while he played on his laptop and then we watched the ball drop at midnight....exactly what I was looking for....enjoyable, fun and relaxing and no stupid, drunk crowds. Perfect.

Today was a nesting kind of day. I cleaned my apartment, took down Christmas decorations and did some laundry. I also made dinner and holy cow, was it delicious! It was so good, I think I should probably share it with you....call it a late Christmas gift ;)

Crunchy Cabbage, Snow Pea and Chicken Lettuce Wraps
8 chicken breast tenders, thawed
garlic powder
sea salt
cracked pepper
1/2 cup snow peas, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 cup red cabbage, chopped small
2 medium celery sticks, chopped small
1tbs finely chopped onion
1/4 cup pecans, cut into large pieces
1/4 mayo
1/4 cream cheese, softened
1/8tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp lemon juice
Romaine lettuce leaves


Using a large a skillet, cook the chicken in olive oil on medium heat. Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Allow the chicken to brown and then remove from heat. Place the cut beans in a microwave dish with 1tbs water and cook for 1 minute. Remove and drain. In a large bowl, combine the mayo and cream cheese with a whisk. Add the lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Place the cooled chicken on a cutting board and cut the chicken into small cubes. Add the chicken and remaining ingredients to the sauce and stir well. Spoon enough of the chicken mixture to fill each lettuce leaf. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!

 The above recipe is so yummy and so filling...it's a beautiful color and it is only 3 carbs..fabulous! I am starting the low carb eating plan again as my New Year's resolution. Happy 2011 everyone!