Graduation/Anniversary/Spring Break

For our 2 year anniversary and a present for Brett's graduation, we decided to go down to Las Vegas last weekend to enjoy some nice weather. Luckily, the weekend fell on my spring break! This Utah weather has been driving me crazy. It was so nice to enjoy some sunshine in Las Vegas. We picked up my brother, Nathan, on the way down so that we could hang out with him before he graduates and moves back to South Dakota. Trent was nice enough to let all three of us stay at his place. While in Las Vegas, Brett was nice and bought me Phantom of the Opera tickets for our anniversary. We were able to go with my best friend Sarie and her husband Brian. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the beautiful music. The next night we went to eat at a buffet. You can't go to Las Vegas without going to a buffet, so we went to the Paris Hotel to try their buffet. It was pretty good. We also drove out to the hoover dam to check out the new bridge. I also practiced swimming in Lake Mead. It was very cold and choppy. It made me appreciate my decision to do the triathlon in Florida.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures to show because my camera is dead and I can't find the charger. Luckily, Brett has a fancy phone with a camera.

Requests for Recipes

I have received a couple of requests this week to put another recipe on the blog. I honestly didn't think anybody ever looked at them and I'm sure most of you don't, but here is a couple of recipes for the ones who have requested.


Chicken Cordon Bleu
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 deli ham, thinly sliced
8 slices Swiss cheese (I usually use muenster cheese instead)
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups corn flakes, crushed
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. parsley flakes

Flatten chicken breasts with a meat mallet. Place 1 slice of ham and 1 slice of cheese on top of flattened chicken. Roll chicken up and secure with toothpick. Whisk together eggs and milk. In a separate dish, blend corn flakes with seasonings. Dip chicken in egg mixture and roll in corn flakes. Place in greased baking pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

*This recipe is relatively easy. Don't worry, it doesn't need to look pretty. Mine usually doesn't.

Best-Ever Barbecued Ribs
CROCK-POT Slow Cooker Recipes

1 tsp. paprika or smoked paprika
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper
3 to 3 ½ pounds well-trimmed pork baby back ribs, cut into 4-rib pieces
¼ cup ketchup
2 T. packed dark brown sugar
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. soy sauce

1. Coat CROCK-POT slow cooker with cooking spray. Combine paprika, salt, thyme, black pepper and red pepper; rub mixture onto meaty sides of ribs. Place ribs in CROCK-POT slow cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 7 to 8 hours or on HIGH 3 to 3 ½ hours or until ribs are tender.

2. Combine ketchup, sugar, Worcestershire and soy sauce; mix well. Remove ribs from CROCK-POT slow cooker; discard cooking liquid. Coat ribs with sauce; return to CROCK-POT slow cooker and cook on HIGH 30 minutes, or until ribs are glazed.

*I made this one Sunday for Nathan and Brett and they both loved them.

Grilled Halibut with Tomato-Avocado Salsa
Betty Crocker
*I made this last week and it was super yummy. It is a great recipe for the spring time! Unfortunately, because of the price of fish, I made it with chicken. I still really liked it with chicken.

1 - 1/2 lb. halibut

Marinade
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP lemon or lime juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Tomato-Avocado Salsa
3 medium tomatoes, chopped (1-1/2 cups)
1 medium avocado, pitted, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 small jalapeno chile, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsp. lemon or lime juice
(I also added some spices)

Mix marinade ingredients in shallow glass or plastic dish. Add fish; turn to coat with marinade. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes but no longer than 2 hours.
Heat gas or charcoal grill. Remove fish from marinade; reserve marinade. Place fish on grill over medium heat. cover; cook 10 to 15 minutes, brushing 2 or 3 times with marinade and turning once, until fish flakes easily with fork. Discard any remaining marinade.
While fish is grilling, make Tomato-Avocado Salsa. Serve with fish.

*Toss some of the salsa with cooked linguine; top with the fish and the remaining salsa.

Enjoy!

Florida

It's official... I am finally signed up to do the Half Ironman in Orlando, Florida on May 15. I guess I can't back out now. I have been working hard to stay on track with my racing schedule, but it is hard. Let's just say that I'm not home very often and if I am home, I am riding my bike in front of the TV.

Catching up

I thought that it was about time that I write a little something about what Brett and I have been up to lately.

Brett and I had a wonderful Christmas. We were lucky enough to see both families. We spent a couple of days in South Dakota to see my family and then we got to hang out with Brett's siblings and grandparents in Utah. Brett's first Christmas in South Dakota wasn't too bad. He was lucky that it wasn't too cold outside!


During Christmas break, I needed to test my skills at making a wedding cake for one of my very good friends. My cake actually turned out a lot better than I thought it would.


The wedding was beautiful. My friend Melissa was lucky enough to have Elder Claudio Costa as her sealer. It was one of the most beautiful sealings I have ever been to. Elder Costa was amazing. The spirit was very strong. The wedding was also fun because I was able to hang out with my old roommates and good friends.


My new job as being an instructor for an undergraduate class is going well. I really enjoy it. My first day of class everybody was quiet and they were listening to me. I have never known how that feels! Teaching students with autism, I rarely get them to be quiet for long periods of time. Here is some proof that I am officially an instructor.


As for my triathlon training, it is going well. I am definitely tired by the end of the week, but I am enjoying the training. I even got Brett to start exercising a little bit. He exercised 3 days this week!

Christmas

I absolutely love Christmas. I love the music, the decorations, the lights, mint hershey kisses, hot chocolate, hanging out with family...
On Saturday Brett and I bought a nice little tree. We had so much fun decorating it and listening to Christmas music. Well, I decorated the tree, while Brett made "decorations" out of the ornament hooks!


On Saturday, I also had my monthly craft day with my good friend Janeth. We made little ribbon trees.

Professor Call...

well not exactly, but I will be teaching an undergraduate class one time a week next semester. I am really excited and a little nervous. I have always wanted to teach a college class and someday I would love to be a professor. I am also a little bit stressed because my schedule is going to be even more full, but my wonderful husband told me that he would take care of the apartment and maybe even start cooking dinner sometimes!

Coach Call

Crazy, but I am now the 9th grade girls basketball coach at South Jordan Middle School. You're probably wondering how I can fit another thing into my crazy schedule, but I am making it work! I wasn't going to coach, but the school was having a hard time finding somebody and I felt bad. I absolutely love basketball and I couldn't let my school go without a girl's basketball team. Basketball was my life when I was going through school. Hopefully, being a coach can be a little stress release for me.



I have already had 2 practices and they have been so fun. Some of the girls on my team have never played basketball before, so this should be a little challenge, but still fun! On a side note, coaching will also help pay for my two recent root canals!

Go Lady Leopards! :)