Christmas Card time!

I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas photo cards. I love sending and receiving them, but I stress so much about taking a photo and choosing the right design! I know, it's not that difficult....

Anyway-I'm sure lots of you have heard about Shutterfly's blogger holiday card promotion. It is awesome! Bloggers can receive 50 free photo cards this year -- details here!

There are so many awesome designs and all are VERY reasonably priced! Here are a few that I am considering for our family photo card this Christmas (once I take that darn picture!)

This one is very untraditional for me in that it isn't red or green, but I like the sophistication!

Much more 'me' -- love the square design and simplicity!

I really, really love this one but I usually prefer a flat card design, so I'm not sure!

Seriously, this is just a quick sampling of about 20 styles that I could have shown you. There are so many cute designs! Stay tuned to see what we choose!!!

Delicious!

Last night, I tried a new recipe and it was to die for! I love to keep trying new recipes -- it keeps making dinner a little more exciting and less routine!



I found this recipe on Houswife in Training's blog and she posted it from Teresa Guidice's Skinny Italian cookbook. My favorite part, aside from the flavors that the marinade gives the entire dish, was the fact that it is a one dish meal! Less cleaning up = happy me!



Here is the recipe:

One-pan Oven Roasted Chicken Feast

For chicken
6 boneless and skinless chicken breast
1/2c dry white wine
1/4c extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper

For vegetables
9 medium red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into quarters
3 large carrots, cut into 1/2 inch long rounds
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 ripe plum tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds
2 medium onions, sliced into 1/4 inch thick half moons
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1. For the chicken, position a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. lightly oil a roasting pan large enough to hold the chicken in one layer

2. lightly pound each chicken breast with the flat side of a meat pounder until it's 1/2 inch thick. whisk wine, oil, oregano, garlic, salt and hot pepper in a dish. add the chicken and cover. refridgerate and marinate for about 1 1/4hr, but not longer than 1 1/2 hrs. Turning occasionally, while roasting the potatoes and carrots

3. Toss the potatoes and carrots with the oil in a large bowl. Place them in the roasting pan. cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 min. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more.

4. Remove the roasting pan from the oven. scatter the tomatoes and onions over the vegetables in the pain. add salt and pepper, and toss together. remove the chicken from the marinate and arrange them in the pan. Pour the marinate over the chicken and the vegetables. Return to the oven, bake until the chicken is cooked. about 25 minutes. (chicken will be white-ish not a toasty brown, it's from all the liquid)

Nutrition Information-Servings 6
510 calories; 49g carbs; 16g fat; 7g fiber; 45g protein

Coming back....

So much to fill you all in on (you all ,as if there are a ton of readers left at this point. I should rephrase--so much to attract new friends to!) over the past couple of years and this little blog is sounding like a good idea once again!

Baby C is now 16 months old - where does the time go?! Pictures to follow in the coming days....

Signing off...

Considering its been over a month since my last post, this probably won't come as much surprise, but I've decided to stop blogging for now. There are lots of reasons, but mainly that the new job is keeping me very busy during the day! I find reading all of your blogs so enjoyable and its all I can do to check in on a few of them. So, at least for now, its best for me to be a reader (not a lurker!!) and maybe I'll pick up blogging again at another time.

Thanks for reading though, and I certainly feel like I know so many of you as if we lived in the same town and were "in person" friends, but cyber friends will have to do for now!

Cheers!

The Palm Gifts!

I was pleasantly surprised to find a package from The Palm Gifts waiting for me when I arrived home yesterday! Inside was an adorable Lilly print key fob (monogrammed) and a pink/green travel coffee mug (monogrammed)!

They are both the cutest things and I would definitely suggest you check out The Palm Gifts for any upcoming birthdays, etc. that you made need gifts for, or just something fun for yourself! Rebecca over there is very sweet! Chloe posted a bit ago about her some new ETP designs that would be carried exclusively by The Palm Gifts -- another reason to pop on over and check them out! A few of my favorites:

Enjoy this great shopping find and Happy Wednesday!

Great recipe

I wanted to pass this recipe along to all of you, as I tried it last night, and I was so impressed! It is extremely easy to make, and not all that bad for you in the nutrition department either. I added chicken and some extra veggies and it was oh so good! I do want to confess that I didn't find this on my own either -- I was reading this blog, because I just love her stationary and have ordered it for a couple of Christmas gifts! I saw this on her blog and decided to try it right away! Enjoy!

Fettuccine Alfredo
From Cooking Light

1 tablespoon margarine
2 small cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups skim milk
2 tablespoons light process cream cheese
1 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
4 cups hot cooked fettuccine (cooked without salt or fat)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground pepper

Melt margarine in a saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic, and saut 1 minute. Stir in flour. Gradually add skim milk, stirring with a wire whisk until mixture is blended. Cook, stirring constantly, 8 minutes or until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Stir in cream cheese; cook 2 minutes. Add 1 cup Parmesan cheese, stirring constantly until Parmesan cheese melts.

Pour sauce over hot cooked fettuccine, and toss well to coat. Top fettuccine with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, chopped parsley, and pepper.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

NUTRITION PER SERVINGCALORIES 345(25% from fat); FAT 9.7g (sat 4.4g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g); PROTEIN 16.8g; CHOLESTEROL 18mg; CALCIUM 333mg; SODIUM 401mg; FIBER 2.3g; IRON 2.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 46.7g