Playing Catch Up

Yikes- August 24 was my last post to you guys - I'm sooooooo sorry. This year has been flying by and wedding planning has taken a forefront to my personal writing and downtime lately. But don't worry, I have still gone out and enjoyed many places downtown with friends and family.

Let's start with some upcoming fun, then a quick recap of what I have been up to. And then I PROMISE that I will get more thorough blogs out on each of these topics below before November is over!!!

First off - can you believe we are less than two months away from Christmas! The season is upon us. I recently wrote about the downtown Waukesha happenings for the holidays for the Waukesha Pewaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau. Check out the post here.


Ok - here's a brief recap of what I have been doing.

Salsa Chicken - super simple dinner!

1. I have been experimenting with new recipes and family favorites. I try to cook one new dish a week -- sometimes they are kiddo friendly and other times, they are for more advanced palettes. I also recently completed a 10-day cleanse and it taught me a lot about my food choices and what I should be eating. I would say I haven't had any cooking "fails" lately, so that is always a plus. Meals include chicken salad (two ways), chicken cordon blue pasta, "crack" brownies (seriously so good), salsa chicken and z'paghetti noodles with shrimp.

2. I have enjoyed a few meals out and about with friends and my fiance. Gyros West, Bernie's Tap Room, Meli and Tofte's Table top the list of places I have visited late.

Lighthouse Events Pumpkin Run in Oconomowoc

3. I am really trying to get myself into a fitness schedule in addition to eating better. The wedding is coming up in less than six months and I have some work to do before the big day. I signed up again for the Winter Run Series with Lighthouse Events and just completed my first of the five. I also have been trail run/walking with my friend Tory.

Nature Trails at Retzer Nature Center, Waukesha

White Gull Inn Fish Boil

4. I recently had my bachelorette party up in Door County. We did it early because we wanted to make sure things would be open while we were up there. My MOH picked the perfect weekend and we really lucked out with weather. I ate plenty of cherry items and partook in the famous Fish Boil at White Gull Inn. Upon returning, I checked out Raised Grain's Door County Cherry IPA to reminisce on the amazing weekend. I won't be sharing all the details of that weekend, but it was a great time and we actually hope to make it an annual trip.

Raised Grain beer flight

Oscar H. Hanson Bed & Breakfast - Breakfast

5. My fiance and I just returned from a quick weekend trip to Cambridge and stayed at the amazing Oscar H. Hanson House B&B. The service was stellar and we found plenty to do in the neighboring cities to keep up entertained for a few days. We definitely will return to the B&B and maybe venture deeper into Madison next time.

Ok - so before November is over, I promise my readers will see at least four new posts. I am making a commitment with my fitness to also give myself more person time. Typing, doing crafts, or reading gives me less time to snack and more time for creative outlets.

2015 Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!


Resolutions, Goals, Intentions, Plans.....they all mean the same thing and many people make resolutions at the start of the year, only to break them and fall off the wagon within a month.

I used to be part of this group, but I have decided to make my goals more attainable and work on progressing them forward throughout the year. For example, weight gain doesn't happen in a month, so you can't expect to reverse the holiday affects completely by the end of January. But if you stick with it, you will see progress that should keep motivating you to go further.

I'm not going to layout all my goals for 2015 in the blog, but I will mention a few that I hope to work towards in 2015.

1) I hope to continue to live my healthy lifestyle. I really kicked it in gear and figured out what worked for me starting at the end of June. I made attainable goals and kept working towards smaller goals to get to that main one. Anytime you complete a goal, I feel a reward is due and I gave myself small rewards along the way. The holidays were tough for me, but I'm excited to get back at it!

2) In conjunction with the healthy lifestyle, I hope to continue my running and working out. I really got into a groove and made amazing progress on running a faster 5k. Then a miserable cough (and a possible asthma diagnosis) took me out of commission for a few months. I didn't let it completely stop me, and I now know what I can do to keep working at my goal.

3) I want to continue to eat and cook healthy. I hope to cook more at home and received some great cookbooks for Christmas. My guy likes to cook too, so I hope we can blend our flavors together and come up with some really great dishes that we will then share with all of you.

And I won't stop the recreations of my area restaurant favorite meals. The duck confit flatbread from Bernie's will be accomplished this year....thanks to finding duck breasts at Woodman's (I really didn't want to buy an entire duck and fear having to clean it!) But don't worry this won't deter me from coming to the restaurants downtown - not even a little bit.

4) I hope to grow my blog. I have a few things already in place to make this happen, but I hope that I can grow my readership and one of the best ways to do this is word of mouth. I'm out of business cards and I hope to get some new ones made so I can pass them out around the city and get them in the hands of more people. But I also would love the help of my existing community of readers to help me get new folks on board by sharing my blog and Facebook page with your friends.

5) Renovations - My condo is great and I am very happy with it as my first home. But with all things that are almost 30 years old, some work is needed. I am hoping to renovate a bathroom and get the basement back into shape after the Great Basement Flood of 2014. I also am going to rip out some plants and do a little landscaping so I can enjoy my outdoor space more this summer. Other areas to renovate include the kitchen, deck and shower, but I won't put too much on my plate for one year!

Oh if only! Maybe in my next house!

6) Try more new things. My family already tells me that I am someone that always is on the move and trying new places to eat, checking out new stores, trying a new drink, making new recipes, going to shows, networking and meeting new people. I love that I do this and I hope to continue it. I hope to try at least one "new to me" place, thing or idea a month.

6) And overall, I hope to be a more positive person. I think that moods are contagious and no one wants negativity to spread. I know that not everyday will be sunshine and rainbows, but after completing the 100 Happy Days movement on social media, I can definitely notice a difference in myself and how I view the world. My friend gave me a jar for Christmas last year to put your happy thoughts in. I read them back and it made me really happy to reminisce. I will continue to fill that jar this year!

Those are my goals for 2015 and I hope you come along for the ride! It's going to be a great year! 

Happy 2015!

100 Happy Days: Week 9

This "cold-cough-aching-wheezing-hives-whatever-I-have" is still here to stay and definitely putting a damper on my happiness. But I'm trooping through and still doing my best to be a part of the world. I have never been this sick for this long, but I think it's finally on it's way out! Dr.s just say it needs to run its course, but it's starting to feel like last winter with the "polar vortex" - never leaving!

Anyways, I did have some great happy moments that I want to share with all of you. 

Day 60:

Allison Art House had a Ladies Night Out event and I attended with my friend Tiffany. I found great unique gifts for some of the ladies in my life. I love this shop. Watch for more on it on my blog soon. PS - I won the door prize too!

Day 61:

Dinner with my parents at Matteo's. This is one of my favorites in Waukesha and although I wasn't feeling the best, quality Italian food near a roaring fire definitely helped me feel better. And I got to see many pictures of my parents' trip to Paris. Win, win. 

Day 62: 

I spent Saturday cooking all day and watching Netflix. I made two soups and my grandma's specialty cookies with a few tweaks for ingredients I dind't have. More on the soups and cookies to come. As for the Netflix.....Gilmore Girls, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990 version), Pocahontas and more Gilmore Girls. 

Day 63: 

I didn't post this on social media but I think it's important to post now. My mom and I went to Wine & Dine in Milwaukee and tried many new eats and treats. We found my mom a few more cocktails that she would like and I found a few restaurants I have to try. Time with my mommy is always time well spent. 

Day 64:

This quote definitely got me through the day. With me still dealing with this cough, I will laugh at just about anything to help cheer me up and I love sleep right now. 

Day 65:

Flowers - a way to a girl's heart and happiness. I was completely surprised by this delivery.....to my work. It showed the person really cares to remember where I work and send me a little something special. These definitely helped flip around my day and week and I am forever grateful for this thoughtful gesture. (Let's just say that someone was raised right!)

#100HappyDays

100 Happy Days: Week 4 & 5

I got a little behind on posting so I did two weeks+ at one time to get you all caught up in my happiness. I hope maybe this has influenced you to at least look for the happinesses in every day life. I am really focusing on those and not the negative things. What good is it to dwell on that when you can smile and be happy?!

Here are Weeks 1, 2 & 3. 

Day 23:

Running has been going well for me lately. A little nagging knee thing is happening so I am taking more days off but my time/mile is getting closer to where I want to be!

Day 24:

Here is where my geeky side comes out because I completely and totally loved the #PRSMS at Marquette. Learning that the Brewers use one gal to run multiple social media sites for the team really surprised me but made me happy too! One gal can do it all!

Day 25: 

Eat all the pumpking things! I love pumpkin and the all of these rock. Ok the Reese's is just thrown in for it's shape but you can't beat sweet & salty at the same time! :)

Day 26: 

Again I went to Lapham with a friend and did some pretty hardcore running. My knee definitely felt it after this one. But seeing these beautiful deer that didn't spook too much when we were near was really awesome! I hope to make it to Lapham this week and get some great pics of the fall leaves!

Day 27: 

 My friend Caroline invited my mom and I and another friend and her mom to her church's annual Mother/Daughter Banquet. It was a wonderful time where the men of the church waited on us for dinner. Many laughs were shared and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Day 28: 

I forgot to post yesterday's happy. Spending time with friends new and old and celebrating birthdays!!! ‪#‎100happydays‬ ‪#‎day28‬

Bonus photo - I didn't post a picture of the day but found this after the fact. Beers were large, lines were long, but we all had fun. 

Day 29:

Spent the afternoon with my mom watching the Packers win, hemming up some of my pants and making Banana Blueberry bread. We each got a loaf and it was so tasty!

Day 30: 

Started a new book - a recommendation from Lauren Conrad (she knows what I like to read and we never even met). So far this one is pretty good. An almost 20-year-old finds out she has a decade left of site and decides to change her life plan to do all she can while she can still see. 

Day 31: 

Fall is here and I made my favorite fall soup - Butternut Squash/Apple soup. Sooooo good! 

Day 32 & 33:

I didn't post yesterday, but this is what made my last two days happy. Meeting up with friends and trying new places! ‪#‎100happydays‬ ‪#‎day32‬ &‪#‎day33‬ 😀

 Day 34: 

I love pumpkin beer. I bought so much last year that I actually had some leftover to drink again at the start of this year's season. I can't drink them in the summer because they are too heavy but it's all I want to drink from September to March :)  This was an excellent one and I may need to find more of it. Woodman's has had the best selection so far. 

Day 35: 

Saturday was a bummer weather day and so I decided to spend it cleaning and cooking. I made a broccoli cheese soup (with Gouda!), Roasted squash and sweet potato soup, gryo meat in the crockpot and pasta with pesto sauce. I have a fridge full of food now so I don't have to worry about what to make this week for meals. 

Day 36:

 My niece & nephew are my world and I got to spend a lot of the day with them. Alex is growing into such a smart little man asking all sorts of questions and helping me back cookies by counting out the Reese's for on top. We might have eaten a few. And Maddie is my little sweetheart sharing big smiles and belly laughs with me all afternoon. 

#100HappyDays

Throw Together Creamy Veggie Soup

I call this soup my "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" dish. I follow a very basic recipe from Food Network to get the base going (probably could have figured it out on my own but I was lazy) and then jazz it up with lots of healthy veggies.

This recipe yield just a few servings, so I doubled it (and maybe a little more).

Get the onion sauteing in the butter and it's smooth sailing from there.

I should have fine-tuned knife skills by now, but I'm still sloppy. No cut fingers (knock on wood) but I am just not coordinated to go fast with a knife for dicing.

I added some other spices, including paprika, thyme, celery seed and garlic powder and limited myself to three cups broth and one cup water. I didn't want to overdue it on the salt. 

I used a bag of mixed frozen veggies that had a cheese sauce already in it to add some extra flavor. Then some frozen peas, fresh broccoli and diced ham were thrown in. Right at the end, I added some fresh parsley and about a cup of shredded cheese that I had leftover.

Just need for it to simmer and you are ready to use your Whipper Doodle (immersion blender). Due to an incident last week with said blender, I was extremely careful to keep it completely submerged in the soup. I did scoop out about a cup and a half of the veggies so the soup wouldn't be completely creamy.

This really turned out stellar. And it's really not all that bad for you. Some butter and cheese but you need your daily dairy intake right?

Because I have to have something to dunk in my soup, I picked up a cheddar biscuit mix at the dollar store.  Not realizing it only made five biscuits, I was a little bummed, but it was a perfect side to dunk.

Quick Asian Inspired Dinner

I fell in love with peanut sauce about six years ago and haven't regretted it yet. have found the best "kit" to use for easy peanut sauce flavor is Auntie Chun's and you can now find it at almost any store. It comes with wheat noodles, peanut sauce and sesame seed oil.

I boiled some chicken breasts and chopped up the meat. I bought some veggies for another meal I'm making this week and used what would be leftover for this meal. I sauteed some peppers, celery, and onion in oil for a few minutes. 

Then it's as simple as combine, add the sauce and oil and stir it up. I did add some creamy peanut butter because it is just soooo yummy and helps really emphasize the peanut flavor. I didn't have any peanuts in the house or I would have put some of those in as well. 

This whole meal took no more than a half hour to put together and serves three decent-sized portions. Yay for leftovers!!!!

Tortellini with Mushroom Sauce

2014 will be the year that I make homemade pasta, however last night wasn't the night. I'm still getting settled in and I didn't want to destroy the place just yet :) And I had to work with what I had in the house due to the ridiculous weather (-50 windchill, no joke!)

I stumbled across this recipe a few weeks ago on Pinterest and used it as the model for my dinner tonight. I have to say - this recipe is so easy to prepare and can feed a lot of people.

I had a container of white mushrooms and about 3/4 of a container of baby bellas so I threw both in the pan to saute.

After then were done I added some chopped onion to add some flavor. I didn't have actual garlic (and I wouldn't have used 20 cloves like the garlic-loving recipe creator did!) so I improvised with garlic powder. I would estimate that I used about a teaspoon and a half. I would guess minced garlic would work too if you didn't want to chop up your own, just didn't want to go out in the #polarvortex

I had some fresh spinach left over from another meal and decided to wilt some into the meal.

Add in the Parmesan cheese, cream and the mushrooms back in and voila, it's done.

Boiling the tortellini is as easy as boil, dump, stir and drain.

Garnish with a little more Parmesan and enjoy! Perfect for a cold weather day and great flavors.

#MKEfoodies Bake Sale 2013

Today is the #MKEfoodies Bake Sale for Cookies for Kids' Cancer. We have a new location this year in the Historic Third Ward at the Hudson Business Lounge. The sale goes from 1 - 4 pm, but if it's anything like in years past, we will sell out quickly - which is an amazing feat!

Many members of the #MKEfoodies group and others in the community bake scrumptious treats to donate to the organization. Everything looks so great and the room smells heavenly when all the treats are in. Santa will even be making an appearance for the children of all ages to enjoy and take pictures with.

Bake sales are held across the nation for Cookies for Kids' Cancer and some corporate sponsors have jumped on board to up our earnings for the organization. OXO has pledged to match bake sale proceeds dollar for dollar up to $100,000 and Glad Corporation will match all donations in the month of December up to $25,000! So every dollar counts THREE TIMES! 

Here are the wonderful treats that I have made and the recipes that go along with them. Pinterest helped me find a few recipes that I wanted to try out this year and I pulled a few family favorites as well. 

Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cookies - I found the recipe on this blog but modified it accidentally. I followed the cake box directions instead of the recipe they provided and they still turned out. And I bought miniature Reese's instead of mini Reese's and had to chop mine into 4 pieces before putting them in the recipe. They still taste wonderful!

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies - Another recipe from Pinterest that I just had to try. You don't need quite as many oreos and I made my cookies a lot smaller so I got 36 cookies instead of the 15 the recipe says it makes.. 

Applesauce Gum Drops: My grandma would always have these for Christmas Eve but because she would make them weeks in advance, my brother and I would sneak into her cellar and steal a few. We were never smart enough to hide the wrappers so she always knew but never cared. 

1 - 6 oz. box of any flavor Jell-O (I used Strawberry and Lime for my two batches)
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce

Mix all ingredients together in a 1-2 qt. kettle over medium-high heat and stir continuous until it boils. Continue stirring while boiling for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a 9 X 5 greased (cooking sprayed) loaf pan. Set on a flat surface until firm. 

Then, rim pan with a knife and cut into long even strips. Place long strips on a lightly sugared cookie sheet or pan. Cut strips into squares (1/2 inch) and make sure all sides are sugared. Set out to dry for at least 1 week turning daily. 

100 Good Cookies: Another cookie that was passed down to me from my grandma. These cookies were one I remember my grandma always having in her cookie jar. The batch makes 100 or more if you make them smaller and because they are a rich cookie, you do want to make them rather small. 

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup margarine
1 cup oil
1 egg
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup Rice Krispies
1 cup coconut
1 cup oatmeal
3 1/2 cup flour

Mix in sugars, margarine, oil, egg, salt, baking soda, vanilla and cream of tartar. Slowly add flour until dough forms. By hand, mix in Rice Krispies, coconut and oatmeal. Drop by small spoonfuls onto a non greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 - 10 mins or until lightly browned. 

*Consider adding 1 cup butterscotch chips to half the batch for an even sweeter treat! 

If you can't make it to the Bake Sale, consider making a donation online to Cookies for Kids Cancer  online. Every bit helps those that can't help themselves against cancer. Maybe someday we will live in a cancer-free world.