Leap Day

We finally got our first "winter storm" this year coming in on Leap Day. It actually started last night with a lot of rain and then switched over to snow at some point throughout the night. We really didn't get all that much snow (maybe an inch or two) but our yard is a huge puddle right now. It's suppose to stay in the mid-upper 30's until the weekend so hopefully the city can get all the slush off the roads before it cools down this weekend.

This morning I also had a final for my Nursing Interventions class so I was out the door earlier than normal so I could make it to class on time. Don't worry...I did and I think the final went good! Before I left I snapped a few pictures from our yard. I always think it's so pretty when snow first falls.

You can't really tell but the branches on every tree were heavy from the rain/snow mix.

Weekend Walk

With our trip out to Yosemite in May quickly approaching us and my desperate need to train for Yosemite because let's face it, climbing at an elevation of 5,000 feet during an all day hike isn't something I do on a daily basis, Joe and I decided to head out to some parks near our home. On Saturday we went out to Battle Creek Park and did a 3 1/2 mile hike through the bike trails, up and down hills, through the mud and snow and back again.

On Sunday we headed out to Pike's Island at Fort Snelling Park where we did a 4 mile loop around the island. Bad day to forget the camera!! The walk was so pretty along the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers and Stella's first steps on sand was pretty funny to witness. She loved running around!

The island was also full of deer. They were all over and on our way back there were five deer to the left of us. Stella was oblivious to them so Joe decided to pick her up and walk toward the deer so she would see them. Well she did and didn't really react, she kept looking back at me to see if I was following, but two of the deer actually walked toward Joe and Stella. They were literally 10 feet from the two of them. And of course I decided NOT to bring my camera with me. Lesson learned. Every walk we take for the rest of our lives, I WILL have a camera on hand.

Stella is FOUR months!!

Technically Stella turned four months last Tuesday but we can still celebrate right?! Besides, I have really cute pictures of her to share with you all...

Cousins....

Here's a little glimpse as to what it was like in our house this past weekend. We definitely need a bigger house for the next time Stella and Chloe get together. It got a little wild once in awhile but overall we think they had a lot of fun:)

Valentine's Day

Joe and I didn't do anything fancy for Valentine's Day this year. It was actually the only day out of the week that we actually got to sit in the same room with each other for more than five minutes. We both ended up working on homework and ordering carry on luggage as our gift to each other. I told him one year I was going to make him buy me a "real" Valentine's Day gift....I'm leaning toward diamond earrings. One year we bought a tent (my idea), this year we bought carry on luggage (my idea)...what can I say, I'm a practical girl. 

Anyway, I did make him a nice dinner so I'll share the recipe with you. It was actually pretty good and I think it will go into our line up for meals!

"Panko Crusted Chicken Stuffed with Ricotta, Spinach, Tomatoes and Basil"

(pretty much the longest title in the world...)

1 cup of low fat ricotta cheese

Small handful of baby spinach, chopped

Small handful of grape tomatoes, diced (remove the seeds if possible)

2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste (I didn't have sea salt but just used regular salt)

Dash of oregano

2 chicken breasts

Italian seasoned panko crumbs

2 tsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the ricotta, spinach, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Rinse the chicken breasts then cut a long horizontal slit along the center of the thin long edge of the chicken breast, nearly through to the other side. Fill the cavity of the chicken breast with the ricotta mixture.

 Season each side of the chicken with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Carefully dip the chicken breasts in the panko crumbs until both sides are evenly covered. Close the slit together with toothpicks.

Heat the olive oil in an OVEN PROOF skillet on the stove over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, place the chicken in the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown, flip the chicken over and place the skillet into the oven. I didn't put the pan I used to brown the chicken in the oven because I didn't know if it was oven proof. I ended up just putting it in a glass casserole dish and it worked just fine.

 

Cook for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Let the meat rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy.

 

Baking Away....

I spent a lot of time in the kitchen this past weekend with our guests in town trying out a couple new recipes and an old favorite. We did eat out quite a bit but I was able to sneak in a couple things for breakfast.

On Friday night I made Raspberry-Almond Muffins for Saturday morning. I personally have had better muffins like these ones but everyone else seemed to enjoy them. If you want to decide for yourself here's what you'll need...

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons almond paste

1/4 butter, softened

2 large eggs

1/2 cup fat-free buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

Cooking Spray

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar or granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Place first 3 ingredients in a food processor; process until well blended. Add butter; pulse 4 or 5 times or just until combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, pulsing after each addition. Add buttermilk, vanilla and juice; pulse until blended.

3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Add buttermilk mixture; stir just until moist. Gently fold in raspberries. Let batter stand 5 minutes. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray or lined with paper liners. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake at 375 for 22 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on wire rack.

I personally thought the bites with the raspberries were the best:)

I also made a Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake. You can find the recipe here with better pictures than what I usually take (they must have a very well lit kitchen). It was awesome...thank goodness for Pinterest otherwise I don't think I'd be spending so much time in the kitchen. I secretly love it!

Family, Food, a Concert and Dogs

Didn't I just post about last weekend?! Man, time is flying by! I wake up one day and it's Monday, I wake up the next day and it's Sunday. At least with the weeks coming and going so quickly it can only mean that summer is rapidly approaching my front door. Now, if only I could figure out how to make summer last a little bit longer. I'll work on it and get back to you if I come up with a solution.

We had a house full this weekend and I loved every minute of it even though I am utterly exhausted from it all. Friday night Kate, Adam, Joe and I went out to grab a bite for dinner and then made our way to the bowling alley to show those kids what's up. Joe and I think we're pretty much awesome since we're in a bowling league and have our own bowling balls. Unfortunately, Kate's boyfriend who claimed he was "terrible" at bowling pulled off two wins out of three games. Geez louise.

Jenna, Drew and their little dog Chloe made it into town around 10:30 that night all the way from Johnson Ceek, WI (it's about a 4-5 hour drive depending on what way you take). Jenna was photographing a wedding on Saturday so they stayed with us for the weekend and Stella was finally able to meet her cousin Chloe. It was so much fun watching those two interact with each other.

Saturday we hung out around the house, Jenna went off to the wedding and the rest of us headed out to lunch at Matt's Bar which claims to have the first Juicy Lucy burgers in Minnesota. After we came back to the house and headed out later for Mutemath at First Ave. Mutemath is one of our favorite bands and they put on quite the show! The night ended with all of us back together playing a board game before heading to bed.

Sunday morning Joe and I made breakfast and everyone headed out around after one. Our house isn't quite big enough for six adults and two dogs but it sure was fun having everyone in our home. We spent the rest of the afternoon going out for a walk, lounging around and homework. I only have class on Tuesday this week due to teacher in-service days/student success day so I have a little bit of a break but a break that will consist of playing catch up with my reading.

Here's a few pictures from the show!

Stella's New Hangout Spot

Ch-Ch-Cha-Changes!

I have a HUGE announcement today besides the fact that this post is post 100 of Shelerudings:) I don't know how to ease you into this "announcement" so I'll say it with pictures.

I went from this...

To this!

It was time for a change and I had been thinking about donating it to Locks of Love again (I've done it three times now!!) so 8 inches later I was left with this!

I actually went to the gal who did my hair for the wedding, Ashley. It's about a 35 minute drive from the house but I really like her and figured it was worth the drive to catch up with her again. Plus, she's really "hip" when it comes to hair and she likes the same kind of music I do so I trusted her to chop it off. It's actually the first short haircut that I actually like...that's why I always have long hair. Me + short hair = not so much. Maybe I'll keep it short for longer than a month this time:)

For those of you who thought my "announcement" was going to be that Joe and I were expecting, sorry, you'll just have to wait until nursing school is officially done for that to come. Ahem, Christina. :) Besides, I couldn't have just said..."Hey Everyone, I got a haircut!" and I'm sure many of you would have thought...zippidty do da, who cares. "BIG ANNOUNCEMENT" sounds a bit more intriguing.

Weekend with Family

This past weekend Joe and I headed up back home to celebrate my birthday, Tom and Sue's birthday as well as introduce our little Stella to the families. We were able to head up early on Friday afternoon after I got done getting 100% on my dosage calculation exam which we have to pass at 90% or else we fail the class.

We brought our bowling balls to get drilled (our league starts this Thursday!) and took Stella and Kobe for a walk in the woods out behind Joe's parent's house. We went out to dinner with both of our parents which was a fiasco in the first place (hour wait at the first place made us head somewhere else) and celebrated my birthday with my family yesterday afternoon. Stella also made a good impression on the family and when I called my Mom after we got back home last night, my Dad asked if we could bring her back.

It was a really great weekend home with family and even though I carried my camera bag with me ALL weekend, I never took one picture. Oops.

Whole Wheat, Oatmeal and Raisin Muffins

Last night, I was in a baking mood after studying dosage calculations so I headed to the kitchen.

I decided to make Whole Wheat, Oatmeal and Raisin Muffins which I made for my family Christmas weekend this year. They are delicious and healthy:) The perfect combination when you've had a piece of cheesecake every night after dinner since Sunday.

Here's what you'll need...

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons untoasted wheat germ (You can also substitute toasted wheat germ which is what I did since I couldn't find untoasted.)

2 tablespoons wheat bran

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1/3 chopped pitted dates (I added the dates the first time but left them out this time around because I don't really care for them that much.)

1/3 raisins

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

1/4 canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup boiling water

Cooking Spray

1. Lightly spoon whole wheat flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 7 ingredients in a large bowl; stirring with a whisk.

Stir in quick-cooking oats, dates, raisins and cranberries.

2. Make a well in the center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Stir in boiling water. Let batter stand 15 minutes. Adding boiling water to the batter and allowing it to stand 15 minutes before baking allows the hearty oats, wheat germ and bran to soak up the liquid for a more tender muffin.

3. Preheat oven to 375. My helper in the kitchen:)

4. Spoon batter evenly into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately and place on a wire rack. PS...they smelled really good when I pulled them out of the oven!

Enjoy:)

Sweet Treats

Joe and I have been training Stella to go the bathroom outside, fetch, come, drop it and sit with treats. So far it seems to be working although my Grandpa told me we don't need treats to train our dog. I told him I wasn't as good as him when it comes to training and that I need the treats. Haha. Instead of having bags of them out on the countertops I came up with this idea...and yes, I pick up the "healthy" treats for our little pup.

Ta-da. Glad I held onto some of the mason jars from the wedding!

The jars look so much better than the bags in my opinion.

I think Stella likes it too...

Hello 26

I am officially 26 years old as of yesterday. It's true when they say that the older you get the faster the years go by. Slow down age!! Joe and Stella had a few great surprises for me. Friday night I worked my first overnight at the nursing home which I actually really enjoyed. I went in at 10pm on Friday and left at 6am on Saturday. I went straight into bed when I got home and slept until about 1:30pm which was still not enough sleep but homework and errands were calling my name. When I opened the door I was surprised with streamers and balloons on the bedroom doorway. Joe has learned I take birthdays seriously:)

Then I rounded the corner to head downstairs and saw this...

I loved it:) Joe thought since the Superbowl happened to be on my actual birthday (apparently the Superbowl is a big deal) that he'd create a pre-birthday celebration for me. He even surprised me with a couple gifts! We're planning on heading out to Yosemite National Park at the end of May before summer classes start up so he picked out these hiking boots for me!! And I know they're really good because he did lots of research on them:) They'll keep my feet warm and dry, good ankle support...I mean I got the works in hiking boot standards!!

We're also planning on building a deck off our back door and I have lots of projects I want to do this summer so he picked up these from one of my favorite stores, Lowe's. Give me the power tools!!

That afternoon we ran errands and then came home to make dinner. Joe picked up the ingredients for a delicious beef stew and he also had my favorite ice cream flavor, chocolate chip cookie dough. We ended the night watching a movie and headed to bed early...it was perfect.

Sunday, on my actually birthday he made me breakfast and we hung out around the house doing homework and a little cleaning before the game started. During half time, he came out with cheesecake and birthday candles and even sang me "Happy Birthday". Overall, it was a great way to start my 26th year of life.