Good Stuff

I rarely bust out the camera these days, why would you when the phone is so handy and easy. Well it doesn't take the best pictures but still it is so convenient. Here are the random happenings of our lives. If you follow me on intagram @lacokland, then you have most likely seen most of these. 

Last weekend we wanted to try out our new pop up 

Jumpin Jack Trailer. 

So we headed down to Moab. 

Just the 3 of us. Here we are all packed up. 

You may notice Ralph thinks he's riding shotgun....no sir. 

Horrible picture but this is when the moon was really HUGE. Sorry you can't tell. 

It was so big that while we were camping and the moon came out, it seriously looked like someone turned on a dim light. 

THE most tired pooch ever after a hike to the watering hole.

He was so excited to be out running around. 

Driving! Pretty sunset. 

                            

I bought a new neon orange shirt. I was and still am pretty excited about it. 

I love watching my cute nephew Connlly while I work. 

He's such a good baby. Only two more weeks of the helmet. Yahoo!!

Horrible picture sorry. Ralph always has to back his royal toosh onto something, 

usually its me. 

I was in bed watching TV and this little miss Kitty just climbed 

right up on me and went to sleep. 

Seriously?!

Chris went to Vegas for my lil brother's bachelor party and while I was doing the laundry

I found this lovely shirt. 

Every had the organic individual hummus packs from costco? 

Get there, they are awesome. 

I was having kind of a rough day this day and Ralph new I was sad so he 

got right in my face and licked the end of my nose. Thank you Ralphy Boy!

Met some good friends Jennie and Jenny at Rio for a delicious lunch. 

We went to jr. high and high school together. 

I never really see either of them so it was good to catch up. 

The other day I looked outside and my mom's dog had made himself at home

ON TOP OF MY TABLE! Goofball. 

Pups and I sleeping in on our backs.

Went to a shower for my nephew's wife who just had a baby. 

I took this picture of my sis in law and put it on instagram.

It backfired because everyone thought i was say she was bored but really

I was just embarrassing her with a lovely pic. 

We had a bachelorette party for tiff at Cafe Molisse . Delicious. 

We are goofing around trying to get rid of our double chins for the picture. 

Sisters. We are just missing Susan who was in Africa. 

My sister noelle. Love her. We get crazy and laugh a lot when we are together. 

Sorry that was random and weird but I just wanted to get some of those pics on here. 

Hope you have a great weekend. 

Food For Thought!!

 I was sitting here and wonder why in the hell I can not shed a single pound, as i was looking through the pics on my phone and figured it all out... I love to eat and I love to cook + being happily and plumply in love...Oh boy! Longest sentence ever!

This wasn't so unhealthy, sausage stuffed jumbo shells. SO good. Chris loved these. You can find the recipe on my Pinterest under DELICIOUS. There are lots of subs to make this very healthy. I did a few of them. 

Chris's friends came into town (pictures of this trip to come) and they make these Jalapeno Poppers. These were a little heart attack all wrapped up in bacon. So you cut Jalapenos in half and de-seed. Then fill with cream cheese, wrap in bacon and top with cheddar cheese...Good GRIEF. Then bake until the bacon is too your liking, i like it crispy. Immediately transfer to paper towel, otherwise the bacon soaks up all that grease and will never have a crunch. 

A Clissold family favorite. Chicken Broccoli Casserole. So delicious, this picture doesn't do it justice. I serve mine over white rice. 

I had to make some thing somewhat healthy. Spinach salad with mushrooms and red peppers with homemade ranch.

This one was healthy and delicious, Pot Pie stew with puff pastries. I made them hearts since valentine's is around the corner. This was so good.

'

Also i had my brother and his fiance over for a little sunday brunch. So fun. Don't mind the goofy pic of my bro, i stole this from Tiff's blog and she thinks he's cute and I couldn't shake him...haha. 

For brunch we had a veggie scramble, consisting of onions, red and green peppers, mushrooms, red and yellow cherry tomatoes. I also made cranberry orange scones with and orange glaze, and what is brunch without fresh coffee and BACON. Hello. Yummy. My scones were from Barefoot Contessa  they were much easier than i thought they'd be. 

Whole living is a great place to find some healthy fun and easy recipes. If you would like to try any of the above, please leave a comment with your email address and I'll send them on over. 

Next things up on the cooking list, skinny macaroni and cheese from here and we got a ham for christmas that i may tackle this weekend. I've pinned the recipe I think I'll try.

Meal Catch Up

Ok so let's get started on this meal thing. I am not very good at taking pictures of my food but I will try to get better at it so you can see if it looks appetizing too.

Sunday-PIZZA
Sunday was a long day of traveling home from Cancun so we had my brother and his girlfriend over to relax and play games and they brought their own dinner. {I know that makes me a horrible hostsess} But they had a delicious Domino's pizza. The New Veggie. I had one slice and was very impressed.

Monday-CEREAL
Was Labor Day and seeing as we had just stuffed our faces for an entire week, we had cereal for dinner. But not just any cereal, we like to mix this and this. {weird that you can buy cereal on amazon, I don't}

Tuesday- TACOS
We still hadn't gone to the store since our trip so we had TACOS.
I fry up tortillas, 2 flour for chris and 2 corn for me, heat up a little casserole of black beans, chicken, taco seasoning and cheese, add lettuce, tomatoes and whatever salsa we have, chris then adds sour cream {i despise sour cream}, a little more cheese and you are set. So easy and so good.

Wednesday-CHICKEN PICCATA
Aha! We made it to the store. I love this recipe. If you don't know how to butterfly chicken, like I didn't, a good tutorial here. Even though is sounds tricky it is so easy and so good.
Recipe here. I serve mine over whole wheat pasta, usually spaghetti is what I have on hand.
note: if you do make this recipe, you MUST take it off the heat when you add the lemon juice and chicken stock. it's in the recipe but i just wanted to make a point of it.

Thursday- HOMEMADE BRUSCHETTA and BBQ STEAK

I love Bruschetta so I just take a handful of Basil out of the garden, dice some tomatoes, one garlic clove, olive oil, a little balsamic, salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with crustinis . I use a loaf of french bread and slice it. I brush each side with olive oil and put in frying pan or on BBQ. I prefer the BBQ it gives it a little more flavor. Serve while bread is hot. I like bruschetta at room temperature.
Last minute Chris's friend showed up with New York Steaks for the 3 of us. That he put some kind of seasoning on and BBQed. I also snazzed up the plate with some Kalamata olives, anchovy stuffed olives, salami, and fresh mozzarella.  I didn't get a picture of the steak since it was an add on but it was tasty. I ate it with steak sauce.  It is amazing.

Friday: PAWIT'S
Pawit's is the best Thai food. Check out their menu.
Our new try this time was Pad Kee Mao: Drunken stir-fried meat with garlic, broccoli, red and green bell peppers, mushrooms,carrots, spicy Thai chilies, and Thai basil. This was so good. We always get the spring rolls and the Pad Thai with shrimp. Yum! Speaking of, left over Pad Thai might be for dinner tonight. 


Saturday: PANINI
Chris went to LA for the U game so I was on my own. I took some left over ingredients and made a delicious Panini. Salami, fresh mozzarella, bruschetta, and pesto. Grilled to perfection. It was so good, i had to fight off Ralph and my mom's new puppy {I eat on the couch when I am alone}. 


Sunday- BLUE CHEESE STUFFED BURGERS
We went to Chris's mom's and had the best blue cheese stuffed burgers, clam dip, the biggest best raspberries, quinoa salad {made by Chris's sis-in-law Kristin}, oh, and  a slice of homemade bbq chicken pizza oops! Sandra, Chris's mom, always has so many yummy choices. She also served brownies and ice cream for dessert. It was delicious. 


So I realize that I need more pictures of this stuff but here you go. These are all delicious meals and I don't make anything that takes too long since I work full time. So good luck. Let me know what you think of the things you try. 

As you read in my last post...if you read my last post, we went to CANCUN!!! It was so dang fun. Chris and I met up with his friends (now my friends) Lauren and Aaron. They are so much fun. We have made  an annual trip with these two every september. Well starting last year but we plan to continue for a long time. We have such a good time with them. it is so funny that Lauren and I have the same name but she pronounces it Loren so I honestly don't even feel like we have the same name at all. It is so weird. Random thought there HA. We stayed at the LIVE AQUA and it did not disappoint. If you are going to Cancun, this is where you want to stay. Rooms great, food amazing, staff so nice, pool perfect. 

 Chris invested in an underwater camera. It was so fun. 

 Although its a little tricky to get everyone in the picture.

 When you stand back it looks like the pool melts into the ocean. It was so cool. 

 Those seagulls were on the edge of the pool. 

 This is another angle so you can see. 

 Aw so cute

 Aaron and Lauren

 Smallest McDonalds ever.

 My favorite waiter worked her. He was so cute and tiny. Alfredo, I wanted to put him in my pocket and bring him home. 

 Again from my last post, this is the Sea Bass I talked about. AMAZING. 

 I think this was a Beef Tenderloin that Chris got, it made me rethink my feelings about red meat. 

 Aaron's twin Jeff and his girlfriend Mollie had a wedding down there so they came to our hotel one day to hang out. Chris went to school with Jeff and that is how he met Aaron, just in case you were wondering. 

L: Aaron R: Jeff

 My new bestie. Love her. She is so sweet. 

 These boys are so dang funny together. 

 I can't believe that he went under with those glasses, those things are his pride and joy. 

 Shockingly enough Chris got fried. Poor guy. 

Cancun was so much fun and such a good send off to the summer. It was so nice to come home and have to wear a little sweatshirt at night. I love this time of year. I also LOVE Cancun!