Make the Most of it Monday

I don’t know about y’all, but I am having a terrible case of the Mondays! I have just been in a funk today and can’t seem to snap out of it. Isn’t it weird sometimes when you are having a terrible day, God just seems to have a hand in snapping you out of it? I decided to go for a run tonight around a park nearby our house. I usually don’t run around the park because in the summer the lake gets all buggy and smells funky, so I usually avoid it, but tonight I decided to give it a whirl. Well, I’m glad I did because it made me realize I need to make the most of my Monday, funk and all.

So, I drag my lazy rear out of the car and start off on my run and start to notice these little messages written in sidewalk chalk every so often. They said all sorts of things like:

“Look! There’s a pretty view!”

“Don’t worry try again tomorrow.”

“Do something unexpected!”

and as I was rounding the last stretch to finish up:

“You’re going to be fine.”

Yeah, if that was some sort of sign, then I don’t know what is! I was about to get in my car and saw a couple with some sidewalk, so I figured this was their handy work. I told them how much I appreciated all their messages and they smiled ear to ear! Isn’t amazing how something so little can make you’re day turn around:)

This also made me think about how everyday on Earth is an amazing gift from God, and I need to treat it as such…even if it is a Monday!

Happy Monday!

Make the Most of It Monday-Food for Thought

I suppose I am cheating on this Make the Most of It Monday post because I’ve decided to share some of my pins from Pinterest from my Food for Thought board.

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Last but not least…

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Hope you’ve had a Happy Monday!

Make the Most of it Monday

I have to tell you that I am absolutely obsessed with country music these days. I was born and raised about 45 minutes outside of Nashville, but I have just in the past year or so really fell in love with country music! Not sure what took me so long, but now I am hooked:)

For tonight’s late edition of Make the Most of it Monday, I decided to share a couple of the songs I’ve been listening to on the drive to work.

Jason Aldean “Fly Over States”

Luke Bryan “Drunk on You”

Pistol Annies “Hell on Heels”

You should definitely check these songs out even if you aren’t a country music fan give them a try. You never know, you could end up a country music convert like me:)

Happy Monday…even though it’s almost over!

Make the Most of it Monday

Well, if you’ve been reading my past few posts you know that I am the proud new owner of a Canon T2i DSLR!! Oh, I am still sooo pumped about this! It takes the most amazing pictures, and I haven’t really started using all the fancy, smancy settings yet! So, to make the most of this lovely Monday, I decided to test out some of the settings on the camera. It is also the last day of Easter Break and the last day off I will get until Summer, so I had better make the most of it!

Here are some of the great pictures I got of the farm back behind our house.

Happy Monday!

Make the Most of It Monday

I have run across a super yummy food blog that is all about being healthy! It’s called Dashing Dish, and she focuses on taking unhealthy recipes that we love to eat and revamping them so they are more health conscious. I have been wanting to make this Chicken Enchilada Bake for a while and figured it would be a great way to Make the Most of this oh so crazy Monday:)

Here’s what you will need:

2 chicken breasts, taco sauce, whole wheat tortillas, shredded cheese, salsa, corn, black beans, rotel, taco seasoning, sour cream (not pictured)

What makes this a healthier version of chicken enchiladas is the fact that you only need 4 tortillas for the entire dish, use a smaller amount of cheese, and sour cream.

First, preheat oven to 375. In a skillet, cook the chicken. Sprinkle a little taco seasoning on the chicken while it is cooking.

While the chicken is cooking, mix together 3/4 cup of salsa and taco sauce (or enchilada sauce), 1/2 cup low fat sour cream, and the rotel.

In a separate bowl, mix together the black beans and corn. Make sure you drain these first. I didn’t and it made the dish a little runny.

When the chicken has finished cooking, chop or shred the chicken and add to the salsa mixture.

Now, your are ready to layer everything together. I did corn/black beans, chicken mixture, tortillas. Repeat. The original recipe went backwards tortillas, chicken mixture, corn/black beans. I don’t really think it matters all that much. I just don’t like having tortillas on the bottom because it’s a mess to clean up.

Then top with 2% shredded cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes, and here’s the finished product. Serve with a little salsa, green onions, sour cream, or whatever else you like.

ENJOY and Happy Monday!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 3/4 cup salsa
• 3/4 cup taco or enchilada sauce
• 3/4 cup 2% shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup low fat sour cream
• 1 can corn
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can rotel
• 4 whole wheat tortillas
• taco seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375. Bake chicken in a skillet with a little olive oil. Sprinkle taco seasoning on chicken while cooking. While the chicken is cooking combine salsa, taco sauce, rotel, and sour cream. In a separate bowl, drain corn and black beans then mix together. Once the chicken is cooked, shred or chop chicken and add this to the salsa mixture. Now you are ready to layer the dish together in a 13×9 baking pan, first corn/black beans, chicken/salsa mix, then 2 tortillas. Repeat. Bake for 20 minutes. ENJOY!

Make the Most of It Monday

Well, don’t really have much to talk about for this Make the Most of It Monday post since it’s been a pretty uneventful Monday. But, I figured I would let everyone know that it is only 3…that’s right 3 days until The Hunger Games comes out in theaters!!!!! I am pretty pumped if you couldn’t tell:)

Go here to buy your ticket, here to watch the trailer, and here to buy the books.

P.S. I suppose I would classify myself as a Team Gale gal:)

Happy Monday!

Make the Most of It Monday-Potato Salad Recipe

For this week’s edition of Make the Most of It Monday, we are grilling out tonight and having a few friends over. One of my favorite things to eat at a cookout is my step-mother-in-law, Kat’s, potato salad. It is amazing! She is from Georgia, so she has introduced us to some different ways to cook southern food. I never thought there were different variations on classic southern dishes but there are! Instead of using sweet pickle relish, this recipe uses dill and there are no onions or celery. If you are a fan of potato salad you should definitely give this one a try.

Here’s what you will need:

Potatoes, eggs, mustard, mayo, dill pickle relish, pepper

I should probably point out that Duke’s mayo is the best! This was something else that Kat has introduced to me. I never thought you could tell that much difference in one mayo or the next, but you can…buy Duke’s. (I can only find it at Food Lion by the way.)

I only used one egg this time because I wasn’t making as much as I normally do, plus I just don’t care for a whole lot of egg in my potato salad. Normally, you would want to use 2 eggs. So, first thing is to boil your egg(s). Make sure you boil them until they are completely done…no runny eggs!

Also, go ahead and boil your potatoes. I always have the hardest time deciding on how many potatoes I need to use, and as usual, I had too many. But, that’s better than not enough.  I used red potatoes because that’s what we had laying around and left the skins on mine. You can use whatever kind you like and peel them if you don’t like the skins. You will want to boil these until they are just fork tender or just a little before is really ideal. You don’t want them to turn into mashed potatoes so keep a close eye on them towards the end.

While everything else is boiling away, now would be a good time to mix up everything else. WARNING, these measurements aren’t exact only a starting point! You sort of have to play around with the ingredients and go by taste at the very end. To start with, I used 2 heaping tablespoons of relish, 3 tablespoons of mayo, 1 tablespoon of mustard, and plenty of pepper. Mix all this together and sit aside.

Once your egg is finished cooking, peel it and chop it up. Add this to your bowl. Make sure you chop the egg up really well, no one likes a huge chunk of egg.

Now, chop up your potatoes into bite size chunks.

This is where you have to start taste testing and add in more of whatever it needs. I ended up not having enough of any of the original ingredients so I add probably another tablespoon of relish, at least 1&1/2 tablespoon of mayo, and just a little more mustard maybe a teaspoon. Then it was perfect!

Happy Monday!

INGREDIENTS:

• potatoes
• 2 eggs
• Duke’s mayo 4ish tablespoons
• mustard 1ish tablespoon
• dill pickle relish 3ish tablespoons
• pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Boil eggs and potatoes (together or separate). Mix together mayo, mustard, relish, and pepper. Set this aside. Once the eggs and potatoes are finished chop them and add to the bowl. Mix everything together well. Adjust mayo, mustard, and relish to taste. Enjoy!

 

Make the Most of It Monday

So, I have definitely been neglecting the ole blog lately. I plan on getting back on my usual schedule with the blog again this week, so here’s this week’s edition of Make the Most of It Monday.

I have been trying to get my lazy butt in high gear and ready for Saturday’s Tom King Half Marathon. I told myself this time I would prepare better and stick to the training plan down to the very last mile…well let’s just say things “came up” and I might have missed a mile or two. I even managed to get my dates mixed up and thought I had an extra week to train…oops. So needless to say, I am a little apprehensive about Saturday’s run. Today, I finally got in my last long run and made it all the way to 9 miles. I know a lot of dedicated runners would not approve of having a long run of 9 miles before you go run a half, but it is going to have to do. I did feel really good tonight throughout the entire run until I finished and my knee started throbbing and realized my pinky toe had a blister:( I am pretty concerned about getting rid of this blister before Saturday. A pinky toe makes all the difference in the world!

I thought that since this is my 2nd race I would be a little more relaxed going into this race, but I am just as nervous as the first race in October. The only thing that makes me feel a little better is the fact that I know what to expect and that I pushed through 13.1 miles before and if I did it once I can do it again. I do hope to finish this race without walking and would like to finish under 2:30. This would be about a 9 minute improvement on my 1st race.

Yeah, so here we are after the Haunted Half in October. Do I look like I am about to collapse and not sure what’s going on? Well, that’s how I felt and the reason for the creepy smile. But, you can’t replace the feeling of accomplishment when it’s all said and done. That’s exactly what I plan on focusing on Saturday morning…get to the finish line and finish strong!

Happy Monday

Make the Most of It Monday

Well, I am running a little late on my Make the Most of It Monday post, but better late than never. Today was a pretty good Monday at school and you couldn’t have asked for a prettier day. It was perfect Spring weather outside, upper 60′s and sunny! It was so nice to actually be able to take my run outside for a change. I definitely was trying to make the most of this amazing weather:) I guess I am finally coming to grips with the fact that there is no longer a chance for snow and am ready for Spring!

I am also pretty excited that our buttercups are coming up already! I can’t wait until there is enough to pick some for the house! They are my favorite flowers. By the way this is not a picture of my house, I do wish I had a field of buttercups though. That would be pretty amazing. In fact, my great-grandparents did have this field of buttercups that we always went to in the Spring to pick a million buttercups. I need to find those pictures and post them. It really was amazing!

Now that I have finished my ramblings, I hope everyone is making the most of what’s left of your Monday!

Make the Most of It Monday

Oh, back to work and another Monday has arrived. Where does the weekend go? For today’s Make the Most of It Monday post, I decided to talk about running. I’ve had a post before about my love/hate relationship with running, but, today, in the spirit of Make the Most of It Monday, I am so glad that God has blessed me with the good health to be able to run.

I ran a 5k this weekend and ran it in a PR time for me of 29:11! I know for a lot of runners this time might get a chuckle or two at being a PR, but, I am pretty proud of it. The thing that got me thinking though was I finished the race next to a man that was at least in his late 60′s. He was breathing easy and looked cool, calm, and collected. While, I, on the other hand, am gasping for air thinking I am about to die. I think it is so amazing, and inspiring, to see people that are so much older than me be able to achieve something that I am at 24 years old. I hope that when I am in my “Golden Years” that I still have the physical capacity and energy to continue running. I do moan and groan a lot when I run, but if I wasn’t able to run, I don’t know what I would do. It’s the little things like this that I take for granted all the time, and I need to appreciate more of what a blessing they are from God.

Here we are at the Pred’s game Saturday night. We all ran the race that morning…in the rain but had a great time!

Happy Monday! Make the Most of It!