Blonde Moment Monday

• Happy Monday ya'll!

• It's officially February which means Ryder and Brynley have each received some of their sweet Valentines Day cards in the mail
• This also means that I have started planning some fun Valentines Day/heart themed crafts and activities for Ryder and I to do
• I love Valentines Day and even did as a single gal when I was in highschool. I guess this is partly due to the fact that my mom always had special Valentines for my brother and I so I never really looked at it as a romantic holiday, but more of a fun holiday to share with loved ones. I plan to do the same with Ryder and Brynley, even when they are married with kids of their own as my mom has done for me!

• Over the past few days we have enjoyed this very unseasonal weather for January/February and have taken advantage of it by going for lots of walks around the neighborhood each afternoon. Ryder has really started getting the hang of riding his bike that he got from his Grammy and Grampa last summer.
• Even though he got it back in June, I was a pregnant Mama in record high temps in the middle of summer and didn't fancy walking around breaking a sweat, so needless to say the bike riding took a backseat. I'm so happy to be back to my non-preggers state and just typing about how hot it was last summer makes me remember all too well just how hot it was ha!

• Can I just say how big Ryder is getting to be? Where has my baby boy gone?

• I have continued to find healthy meals to make, and decided to try these roasted brussels sprouts. Not really a fan of these growing up, as my mom would make me eat them on occasion (gag!), I decided to give them another go. They were really good roasted and I will have to make them again sometime. All I did was sprinkle sea salt and less than a T of olive oil on them before popping them in the oven for 20 minutes. I found other recipes that kept them whole, but I liked them in smaller bites.
• I also found a recipe that shredded them and roasted them in a pan with pancetta, so if I get brave and decide to try that one, I will definitely have to share the recipe!

• Along with the roasted brussels sprouts, I also made a pot roast in the crock pot and creamy cauliflower puree. Have you ever had pureed cauliflower? It tastes just like mashed potatoes but so good! And a lot less calories!

• If you want to give it a try, here is the recipe. I substituted 2% milk for the buttermilk and it came out great! I will say to make sure you eat it while it's hot because once it got luke-warm/room temp, it wasn't as yummy. Just ask Scot, as he left to take a call from work and by the time he came back to finish chowing down, his food was cold and he said it wasn't as tasty.

• Overall we had a good weekend! We went shopping at Fresh Market on Saturday to get some yummy organic and natural stuff to make for our Superbowl snacks.
• We were obviously pulling for the Patriots yesterday
• Scot and I went back and forth trying to decide what our "cheat" foods were going to be, and we couldn't decide between dips and pizza or Sonny's BBQ with sides, so we somehow ended up with more natural ingredients by shopping instead.
• 
• 
  
• On the menu: Chicken salad sandwich with Italian pasta salad for me, Hot Wings and Turkey Terryaki meatballs for Scot, and we shared chicken potstickers with homeade hoisin sauce, and a jalepeno popper dip. We also had some of the best tortilla chips and salsa!
• I served the jalepeno popper dip with Fritos and some of the tasty tortilla chips

If you want to try the dip, here is the recipe:

Ingredients

2 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese (I used the lowfat kind and I'm sure you can also cut this recipe in half if needed)

1 cup mayo

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chiles, drained

2oz can diced jalepeno, drained

1 cup grated parmesan (I used reduced fat)

Directions

Stir together cream cheese and mayo. Stir in green chiles and jalepeno. Pour mixture in a microwave or oven safe dish. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered 375 for 30 min.

It was piping hot when I got it out of the oven to sample, so be careful!

• I sure talked a lot about food, but I guess it was a day of cheating so it was on my mind.
• Here my cutie and I are, dressed in our navy and red. Not to be confused with the Giants, who happen to also share these colors ha!

• I got so excited to talk about the yummy food we had and to show off some cute pictures, that I forgot to mention we went to church Sunday morning. The highlight of the morning was picking Ryder and Brynley up from the church nursery and seeing that Brynley had fallen asleep on one of the sweet older women while she rocked her!

• All the talk about food and "cheat" days will have to come to an end, because in just 4 weeks Scot and I will be coming here, courtesy of him winning Presidents Club!
• The Four Seasons Maui and I can not wait!

• But with that being said I have only four weeks to get in a bathing suit
• Yikes!
• Well that was the best news of the day and I can hardly wait until we leave, but it will also be hard leaving both kids for 5 days while we are in paradise.
• I am so blessed to have such a hard working husband and father to our children, and it will be a much needed vacation to get away and enjoy one another!