Philly

I can't believe that I haven't posted since almost Thanksgiving!  Don't give up on me.  This past weekend Justin and I got to go to Philadelphia (I had to attend a conference for work and I asked him to tag along).  While we were there, we decided to stay an extra day and play around in the city.  I've been up the east coast into New York and the surrounding area and Justin has never been anywhere northeast.  I was worried that we wouldn't really like it b/c I hated New York when I visited.  We really had a great time though... Philly is less hustle and bustle than NY and there were so many historic sights- the Liberty Bell, the original Bill of Rights, the building where they held the first Continental Congress.  It left us a little awestruck to know that we were standing in the room the Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, etc. stood when pour nation was first beginning.  The architecture was beautiful as well!  We also had to go to South Philly and have a cheesesteak... actually we had 3 while we were there.  If you ever go to Philly- go to Jim's- it was definitely our favorite!  I'll add pictures later...

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Dogs, dogs, and more dogs...

This is Minnie (the black one) and Freddie (the tan below) 

These are of the Maltese mix- Justin was calling her Fluffy, but the name doesn't really fit her- she's pretty fiesty!


So I guess I've kinda fallen off of the blogger scene for a little while, but like my title suggests, our life has been consumed by dogs, dogs, and more dogs lately.  A few weeks ago we took in a momma lab with 8 puppies as well as 4 additional dogs (not including Rita ad Tigo).  Two (Freddie and Minnie) we got adopted to 2 families in Wisconson and we took them to Dallas over Thanksgiving to start their travel.  They are now with their new families and doing great.  Another was a little maltese mix- we think someone tried to kill her by spilling some type of chemical on her.  As you can see, she's making it ok and hopefully she'll be adopted soon.  We also have a new pit bull named Olivia.  She had an eye removed today because she was either attacked or it rotted out.  She is very scared, but has such a sweet temperment.   We are so missing our acre of land in Monticello as 14 dogs are a little much in a duplex (good thing my dad is an animal lover!)    

1/2 Marathon

So this happened a few weeks ago, but I just never got around to posting it.  I convinced my mom that she should walk a 1/2 marathon with me (I thought about asking her to run... but there was no chance of that).  We trained by walking 6 miles at first and adding a mile a week until we were up to 13.  I was so proud of her especially b/c we finished in 3 hrs 20 minutes, a whole hour faster than she thought she would be able to do!  I really think it was good for her b/c she has somewhat low self-esteem and it was nice for her to do something she never thought she would do.

Funny stuff

This is Tiger, one of our fosters- I was trying to photograph some of our new dogs for our website, but he was quite curious about what I was doing.
This is my baby- Tigo, trying to fit in the little dog's dog bed.  
In case anyone was curious- here's a picture of our prize winning pumpkin.  We called it the Nerd O' Lantern and we won the prize for funniest pumpkin.

2 years and counting!

So yesterday was our 2 year anniversary. I know some of you have been married probably as long as I've been alive, but anyways... I don't know about anyone else, but the 2nd year was way better than the first.  I think you finally start to get used to each other's quirks and start to laugh at yourself and each other.  So for our anniversary we carved a pumpkin (for my work Halloween contest... and it won 1st prize!), cooked dinner together, and read about 50 of the emails we sent before we even met.  In case anyone doesn't know- Justin and I "met" through a social networking site.  We started emailing each other while he was deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2005.  I think we emailed almost every day until he came home in December of 2005.  Kinda odd since I am terrible at emailing and he really is too.  It was fun looking back and seeing what we were thinking before we even met.  Anyone else have fun or funny anniversary traditions?

  

Recipe of the week- stuffed poblano peppers

Ingredients:

4 whole poblano peppers

1 lb ground turkey meat

1 can whole kernel corn

1 can pinto or kidney beans

1 cup monterey jack cheese

Optional: salsa

Directions:

1. Wash peppers, split lengthwise (but make sure they stay together at the stem) and remove seeds

2. Put split peppers under broiler on high until they begin to blister and slightly blacken (about 5 minutes depending on your broiler and how large the peppers are)

3. Brown ground turkey (or beef if you must) and drain fat from pan.  Drain cans of corn and beans and add to meat.

4.  Fill peppers with filling mixture and top with 1/4 cup cheese each.

5. Return to broiler until cheese is melted and bubbly.

6. Serve with salsa 

A great family friendly dinner that has lots of nutrients too!

Recipe of the week- green chile breakfast casserole

So since I love to cook- I've decided to add a recipe of the week day to my blog.  Feel free to copy any of these recipes and let me know how you liked em.  Happy Cooking!

This is one of my husband's favorite breakfast recipes and it's got lots of options depending on what your family likes.

Green Chile breakfast casserole

Ingredients:

12 eggs

6 fresh roasted green chiles or if you don't have these where you live you can use canned green chile- 1 large cans or 3 small cans + 2 finely chopped jalapenos  

1 block Neufantel cheese (or 1/3 less fat cream cheese) softened

1lb turkey sausage (or if you must, pork sausage)

3/4 cup colby jack shredded cheese 

salt and pepper to season

*options... meat can be left out as well as the jalapenos (but if you're using canned green chile you'll really need something to give it a little spice)

Preheat oven to 350  and spray a large casserole dish with Pam

1. Brown sausage on stovetop and drain off fat.

2. Blend 12 eggs with cream cheese,  shredded cheese, a dash of salt and pepper, and chiles on medium low with hand mixer or stand mixer

3.  Add in sausage and pour into casserole

4. Bake for 30-40 minutes... until eggs are firm and casserole starts to brown 

5.  Allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes and serve plain or with salsa.