Cheesy Broccoli Soup - Weight Watchers

Tonight we had one delicious soup.

It was so good that I couldn't wait one more day to write about it.

5 reasons why it's amazing:

1. It's cheesy

2. It's a weight watchers meal

3. It's got a kick of spice

4. It's filling without over eating

and 5. It's EASY!!!

 

While I was making it, I thought there was no way this is going to be that great. Tomatoes in a cheesy broccoli soup? Can't be the best, right? Wrong!

I wanted to try it though because it was a WW recipe and that means it's healthy, which we could use in our diet a lot.

 

Jake HATES tomatoes. He will pick them out when I cook with them.

 When he saw me cooking and noticed the tomatoes I could tell he was very apprehensive. He said he would try it, but I must have made a mistake by putting the tomatoes in. Ha!

 

Ok, so what you will need is:

 

2 cans (10 1/2 oz) Chicken Broth

 

1 can (10 oz) Rotel Tomatoes (original)

 

2 bags (10 oz each) Frozen Broccoli

 

8-16 oz Velveeta Cheese

 

Directions:

 

In a pot, stir in Chicken Broth, Tomatoes, and Frozen Broccoli for approximately 8-10 minutes

 

After 8-10 minutes stir in Velveeta Cheese.

 

The original recipe called for only 8 oz of Velveeta Cheese, but growing up, my mom always told me that when it comes to cheese (and cream and spices) you double it. Not anything else, just the cheese. Adds flavor and lets be honest, cheese is amazing.

 

So instead of sticking the whole 16 oz block of cheese into the pot, I broke it up and gradually melted the cheese. I started with 8 oz, then made my way up to the whole block piece by piece.

 

It's so simple and took, including opening the cans and cheese packet, approximately 1/2 an hour. That is with watching Family Feud at the same time.

 

BTW: Jake LOVED it. Like I said above, he HATES tomatoes, but this soup was hit on the nail. He loved it and gobbled it right up. He said the spice was exactly what it should have been and he wouldn't change a thing.

 

This meal was a SUCCESS!!!

 

This is what it looked like in the pot. SO YUMMY!!!!

 

 

Now go try it!!!

 

Original Recipe Found Here: Recipe!!



14 Days of Valentines: Days 4-8

It's crazy how fast the days go by when you are having fun giving gifts and getting gifts!!!

Jake and I have had a blast and a few hysterical laughs.

We are very goofy in how we are presenting our gifts to each other, so if you think of goofy ways, then do it! It makes for a good laugh, and great memories.

 

Day 4:

Thursday. It was my day to give Jake a Valentine.

He had work, so I had until 2:30 to get the Valentine together and prepared.

I decided today would be a good day for donuts. And nuts. Because they totally go together.

I went to the local shopette here on base because they sell Krispy Kreme Donuts. The Best.

I got him 6 donuts and a packet of peanuts.

When I got back I set up the donuts and nuts in a way so it would be the first thing he saw when he walked in. The note to go with the gift said "'Donut' you know that I'm 'Nuts' about you????"

Cute right?

 

 

 

Day 5:

Jake is so cute when he gives a gift because he will either walk up and hand it to you or just set it down and walk away while you are standing right there and wait until you notice.

This time he went into the bedroom, came out, set something on the table, and walked away. I was sitting on the couch, and my eyes were bugging me (I have contact allergies) so I couldn't really see what he had set down.

I got up and saw that he had bought me a game and left me a note.

It was the game "Bang" and the note said that I put the bang into life.

We played this game while in Utah for Christmas with my family and loved it! It's a western game and it's so much fun. You have to have 4 players play. I was so excited to get it because we have been wanting to get it ever since we played it.

 

 

Day 6:

I decided for day 6 that I wanted to give Jake a "Heart Attack"

The night before I was SO tired, but I needed Jake to go to sleep after me so I could put the heart attack up and have him wake up to it at 4:00.

He finally fell asleep at 10:00 and I went to work. I was so tired though that it took me until 2:00 in the morning to finish all the writings and hanging it up all over the hotel room.

I used heart shaped paper that I bought from Target for $1.00.

There was 100, so I did 100 reasons why I love Jake.

Jake loved it when he woke up and said that some even surprised him. We have yet to take them all down because he loves reading them every day. This is a great cheap way to let your special someone know how much you love them and why you love them.

 

There were more hanging around and hidden in his lunch and books.

Day 7:

Day 7 was Sunday and Jake's day. I took a little nap during the day and when I woke up I guess I woke up at the wrong time because Jake was in the middle of preparing my Valentine. So he had to change his mind and do plan B. Oops.

He gave me a hilarious note/letter about how we are weird, strange, and well, disturbed in ways. He also said that besides all that, our love is quite magical. With that I was given the Harry Potter Kinect game for Xbox. I am so excited to get to Germany and get our Xbox back so I can play it! Apparently I can get sorted into a house and play quidditch. Yeah yeah yeah, I'm a nerd. But I LOVE Harry Potter and I am so stoked!!!

Day 8:
Today is day 8 and my day to celebrate Jake and give him a Valentine!
I was stumped at first because I wanted to give him Oreos (I'm trying to fatten him up :)), but he bought himself oreos this week and still has some in the pantry, so that wasn't going to happen.
I went to BX (Base Exchange) and looked at their section of cute Valentines and got a jar for candy, some chocolates, Reeses, and caramels. Also, I got him these cute coupons that he can use for back massages, kisses, dinner dates, and movie nights.
He came home from work and loved it. He has already ate all the Lindor chocolates and the Reeses. I love him so much and how much he loves Reeses ha ha.
I also wrote him a note that incorporated all the things I gave him then folded it like I used to in high school for note giving. It was fun trying to figure it out again and having muscle memory kick in to fold it.

We are still having so much fun with doing this and I know we are both absolutely loving it! It's fun looking forward to the next day and finding out what the other thought of to get. I love how creative we have been getting. Hope this gave ideas for those of you planning on doing the "14 Days of Valentines"
We only have tomorrow and Wednesday left for this week and then we are taking a break while I go home to Utah. Can't wait to see what the next couple days bring.

:)



Mmmm Pork Chops

Pork Chops!!

Something that Jake loves so much!

This recipe was found on Pinterest, and at first I wasn't going to pin it, but Jake was hovering over me and pointed right at it and said "Pin that one!" So I did, and on Tuesday night we tried it out.

 

This is an AMAZING recipe. I didn't really know what to expect because I like pork chops, but I'm not huge on the cream of chicken thing.

 

Check it out: It's only 3 ingredients!! How amazingly awesome is that!?!?!

And it's a crock pot! So that means it's done in pretty much 5 minutes!!!

I say that with no sarcasm. I was walking out the door and remembered that I needed to put the crock pot on, told Jake to give me 15 minutes, and 5 minutes later we were walking out the door again.

 

 Here is where I got the recipe: Yummy!!!!!

 

 

Alright, now pull the crock pot out and lets get started.

5 minutes from now you will be ready to move on to the next task for the day.

 

Recipe:

 

Ingredients

Pork Chops (I put in 8 boneless pork chops so we would have left overs)

2 cans of Cream of Chicken (Or 1 can and 1 can of water)

1 packet of Ranch (add more for flavor)

 

Put it all in the crockpot

Stir it up

Cover

Cook on LOW for 4-6 hours (I did 5)

 

And you are done!!!

See how easy that was.

And it's amazing so do it today.

 

Recipe also said you can try with chicken. I think I'll stick to pork chops though.

 

Enjoy Enjoy!!! I know you will!!! 

14 Days of Valentines: Days 1-3

14 Days of Valentines!

 

We have all seen on Pinterest the many blogs about celebrating Valentines with the 14 days of Valentines. I loved the idea when I saw it so about 2 weeks ago I brought it up to Jake that I thought we should do it.

Because we are moving right before Valentines Day to a different country and will have no idea what we are doing that first week that a Valentines date on the actual day of Valentines was out of the question. So we decided to count back 14 days from the Saturday we wanted to do our "Valentines Date", but another problem came up and that is that I'm going to Utah for 5 days during the 14 we would be celebrating, to pick up my dog. So, we decided to push it back even father and then just jump over those 5 days.

 

So with all of this we started our 14 days of Valentines on the 21st (which was Monday) and it will end on the 9th of February when we go on our date.

 

So far we have done 3 days! It has been really fun and exciting! I love the anticipation of what is going to come next.

Jake wanted to have day 1, and then we switch every day.

 

 

Day One:

Jake knows how much I LOVE getting a massage. I ask him about every day to either rub my feet or neck. So on Day 1 he busted out the lotion and rubbed for an entire 2 hours!!! We started the movie and he finished when the movie was over! I was in shock because it's usually only 5 minutes.

This is a great way to start a Valentines. It's cheap and it feels amazing. I haven't been sore all week because of it and that is saying something because I am always sore.

 

Day Two:

This was my day, and I was so excited! Last week we went to Target and while in the electronics section, Jake pointed out that he wanted to watch "Catch Me if You Can". I had never seen it, and it's one of his favorite movies. I had been looking for a cheap movie that he wanted and luckily this one was only $5.00 and it was the last one! It was basically telling me to buy it.

I didn't want to just to the movie, so I went to the Valentines section they have at the front of the store with cheap Valentine gifts and found a popcorn bucket for only $1.00. Score! We already had popcorn at the hotel because it's amazing so I knew this was going to be great.

For the "cute sayings" to go with everything I had to write it on normal lined paper with a red pen because my cricut and computer and all my cute crafting stuff is on it's way to Germany. Make do with what I have, right?

The first saying is on the popcorn bucket and it says "This may sound 'Corny', but you make my <3 'Pop'"

The second saying is on the movie and it says "I'm so :) you 'Caught' me when I fell"

And then to go with the movie and popcorn I made a ticket that says "You have the 'TICKET' to my heart"

 

 

 

Day Three:

This was Jake's day again and it was yesterday.

We went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner because he passed his PT test with a 93 and we were celebrating, and I thought this was what my day was, going to dinner and getting cheesecake. I was wrong. When we got back to the hotel Jake gave me the book "The Time Keeper" by Mitch Albom and a note telling me how much he loves me and that he will love me for time and all eternity. It was so beautiful and I loved it so much!

The book, so far, is very good. I'll give a review about it when I'm finished.

 

 

These are just some ideas to do for your love for Valentines day.

Jake and I have had a blast and this is definitely a tradition we plan on making. It's been a fun past 3 days and I look forward to the next 11 so much!

 



Skin + Clear = How?

Something I have been wanting to share with others for quite some time, but never knew how or if I should is skin care and how I, personally, keep my skin clear.

On average during the week I get complimented on my skin about 3-4 times. No joke. It's not something I'm bragging about. It's just the truth. And that isn't including the ones I get from Jakie Poo.

 

Throughout my life I have not always had clear skin. When I was in the 6th, 7th, and part of 8th grade I had to be put on perscription medicine that smelled really bad and was left in the fridge. Part of the reason I was breaking out so bad was because I'm female and that is the time I was becoming a young woman. I had blackheads all over my nose and tiny nasty chin zits with third eye zits as well. Also, when I was in the 5th grade I got Shingles on half my face and was left with scares all over my cheek and lip. I was called "2-face" in my family for a good laugh. Half way through 8th grade I got sick of it and started to try at home remedies like mixing the white yolk of an egg with oatmeal and milk and putting it on my face for 20 minutes every night. It made my skin feel soft, but never got rid of the zits.

I then realized that when all these breakouts were happening was during the time I started to wear make up.

My mom always told me to wash my face night and day, but I didn't always do that.

That was the other part of my breakouts. I needed to be cleansing my face. But how?

 

1. Washing: Have you ever noticed in the morning when you wake up left over mascara on your eyes? No, me niether. Why? Because before I got to sleep I wash my face with HOT water as if it was my religion. Nothing else though. No soaps, no scrubs, nothing. Just hot water. And I make sure I get every last bit of mascara, eyeliner, foundation, everything off my face. Is my face red after? Yep. But it feels good.

 

2. Exfoliate: Did you know Cindy Crawford exfoliates to stay young looking? I saw it on TV and decided that if I wanted to keep my skin young and healthy and soft, I needed to exfoliate. I do it about once a week in the shower. I get the shower really hot, give myself 5-10 minutes with the steam on my face, then exfoliate until my skin is soft, smooth, and amazing. After, I make sure to put a face lotion on (Cetephil is the only brand I will use), this way I don't dry up because my pores have been opened up. I don't break out after because the lotion doesn't have oil in it.

 

3. Tanning: This isn't neccessarily for zits, because I know a lot of people that go tanning to get rid of acne, I'm putting this up here because tanning makes people look older than they are. I still to the day can pull off looking like an 18 year if I want to, maybe even younger. Have I been tanning before? Of course, I am a girl and I did try out for cheerleading in the 8th grade. That was the first time I went. And I didn't even make the team! (Good thing too, Loved high school drill team). I went sporactically throughout highschool, but I can honestly say that I can count on my fingers how many times I've been. After high school I didn't get tan at all from the sun because I worked alot and was indoors. When I got married I got burned severly on my back on my honeymoon and now have a back full of freckles. Happened again a year later (think I would have learned my lesson), and was burned even worse. Now, I love my freckles, but they are a sign that I didn't take care of that part of my body. I'm telling you now, if you tan, if you go in the sun, COVER your face and neck! Your face is not enough. If you have a nice young looking face, but an older looking neck you will not look good. Trust me. COVER UP! Pale skin is beautiful and actually becoming very popular. Don't try to be something you aren't. If you tan amazingly, I'm jealous of you, but still take caution.

 

4. Make Up: Look at your make up and make sure it's not the cause of your problems. A lot of make up that is bought carries a ton of oil in it that can clog up the pores. I wear Clinique foundation, Clinique blush, and Clinique powder. I put a dab on my nose, chin, and middle of my forehead and work my way out that way it blends into my neck, and I'm not using a lot.

 

5. Working Out: This will tend to make you break out if you sweat a lot (like me). Just make sure you are washing your face immediately after you work out.

 

6. Now for my final thing about how I keep my face clear. Once a month I get one zit. You can only guess when in the month this happens. I get it in one of 3 spots. Right by my eyebrow in the middle of my eyes, my chin, or my cheek. When this happens, there is nothing I can do to prevent it. So, for a week out of every month I use Proactiv. I don't use the scrub, or the cleanser. I wash my face with hot water, put the lotion on, let the lotion dry, then I put the mask on and sleep in it.

 

Now this is what I do to keep my face clear, but I also do other things.

For instance:

I drink 100-120 OZ of water per day (I only drink bottled right now too, so we are going through cases like none other right now)

I take a Biotin Vitamin every day to keep my hair, nails, and skin nice and pretty.

I eat veggies (celery and broccoli are my favorite)

I don't eat chocolate

I don't eat sugar on a regular basis

I don't drink soda

 

I must also add that my skin is also partly genetic and I must give credit to my mom. Not only does she have great skin, but she has taught me that I need to take care of my skin. It's the first thing noticed when meeting new people. Second are the eyes.

 

I feel for those who have to be put on heavy duty medications. I know people very close and dear to my heart that had to be put on it. I'm just putting out there how I do it because I get asked so often how I keep my skin clear. Well, now here is my bible on how to do it. If you try it and it works for you then great! But if not, then I suggest consulting with your dermatologist.

 

I just noticed that I never said how I got rid of my scars, well I put Merderma on for about 2 years after I got better, and while they faded, when I cry or get upset they still flare up. You can't see them until I cry, so I don't worry about them anymore because with how happy of a life I have, crying doesn't happen often.

 

There you have it. Message me if you have questions. I love my skin and I want to keep it young and clear looking for as long as possible.

 

P.S. Remember that climate also can change how your skin reacts. For instance: I am more oily in Maryland than I am in Utah for obvious reasons. So, I do not need to worry about drying out while living on the east coast, while in Utah it can be a daily challenge. If you dry out a lot, I suggest exfoliating more.

 

I would post a photo of myself so you could see that I'm not lying about my skin, but Blogger isn't letting me. Maybe another day.  

Strawberry Banana Scrumptiousness

Saturday morning Jake had to wake up at 0400 to go to work. He has to do this for 4 days and then he has 2 days of work off.

I couldn't sleep Friday night, so when he woke up on Saturday morning I was still awake!

I decided to make him another smoothie and try to make up for the last one we had together since he didn't like it.

I found this one at the same website as the last one. "40 Healthy Smoothies". It's #8 of the 40.

Link to the website is here: Smoothie Website

 

This smoothie was unbelievably good! And it's HEALTHY! Double wam slam! Jake went back for thirds before he had to leave for work, and I went back for fourths! It was so yummy and full of flavor. I don't know if "scrumptiousness" is a word (doubtful), but that is what it is! So yummy!

 

Here is the wonderful recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C plain fat-free yogurt

3-4 bananas, peeled and chopped (I used 3 ripe bananas)

14 ounces (or just 3 C) strawberries, stems removed, and chopped (Note: I used frozen strawberries because that is all I had, and they were whole and it turned out great, and I'm pretty sure it helped with it being cold. If this is all you have like me, then go for it!)

1/4 C skim milk or soy milk (I used skim)

2 T of honey (I did 2 1/2 :) )

1 C ice

 

Gradually add all ingredients to blender. Puree until smooth.

 

Enjoy! (Seriously enjoy because it's divine!)

 

 

Note: Reason for no pictures - My main computer is being shipped to Germany as I sit here and all I have is my old laptop that has no room on it and I don't want to upload anything on to it seeing as it's already slow enough. So in about 2-3 months there will be a handful of pictures to look at :)

 

 



Strawberry + Grapefruit = Indifferent

On Wednesday I decided to try out a smoothie I had found from Pinterest.

 

It was the pin about "40 Healthy Smoothies"

Link to the website is here: Smoothie Website

 

The one we tried on Wednesday was the Strawberry Grapefruit Smoothie. It's #3 on the list of 40.

I liked it and drank the whole thing, which is unusual because I'm not a grapefruit fan, but my husband who LOVES grapefruit didn't like it. At. All. He took about 3 sips from it and stopped.

 

Both of us agreed that the reason for this was the ginger. While I liked the smoothie, there was an aftertaste that was not the best and I wouldn't call it bitter, but it definitely wasn't a "Hey lets kiss" aftertaste. If you know what I mean.

 

If you want to try this smoothie I would suggest leaving the ginger out, but if you like ginger then leave the ginger in. If I ever do this smoothie again, I'm leaving it out.

 

Here is the recipe:

 

Ingredients:

1 Grapefruit - peeled, seeded, and chopped (I just pulled it apart over the blender since juice goes everywhere)

2 cups fresh hulled or frozen strawberries (I used frozen)

1 sweet apple (I used Pink Lady), cored and chopped

1 inch fresh Ginger peeled and chopped

1 cup of water

 

 

Directions: Put all ingredients in blender and process until smooth.

 

If you are doing this for only 2 people, and don't want leftovers I suggest splitting the recipe. We had half the blender full of leftover smoothie.