Mexican Cheesy Baked Polenta with Sausage

It's been so cold and snowy here, I've been craving something warm, comforting, and cheesy. Obviously cold weather = melted cheese, duh. So for dinner we decided to make some Mexican Cheesy Baked Polenta with Sausage. The word polenta sounds a little intimidating, but really it's nothing but corn grits, or cornmeal. The Kitchn does a great job clearing up the difference between cornmeal and polenta. If you're lost while shopping remember that you can use a medium or coarsely ground cornmeal, but stay away from anything labeled finely ground, or anything that looks like a flour. Something ground that finely would not give you the correct texture for this dish. Also, stay away from anything that is packaged in a tube. That product is delicious, but it's already cooked. You definitely want to be buying a dry product. I like to use Bob's Red Mill Corn Grits Also Known As Polenta, basically because when I went shopping it was the only thing I could find in my grocery store labeled polenta. I didn't have a cornmeal vs. polenta fairy to guide my way!

First step is to get a pot of salted water boiling on the stovetop. You want to salt your water like you're making pasta. This just helps impart flavor into whatever you're cooking. A patient of mine, an old Italian lady, told me that your water is properly salted when "it tastes like the sea." Once your water is boiling, it's time to add the polenta. DO NOT DUMP IT IN ALL AT ONCE. You want to slowly add the polenta to the boiling water. I usually pour a little bit in, give it a stir, and let the water come back to a boil, then add a little more polenta. Make sure that you're stirring constantly as you add the polenta.

Turn the heat down to low - medium low, and keep stirring frequently while the polenta thickens. It's going to take about 25 minutes for the polenta to begin to soften. When it's done it'll taste creamy, almost like the consistency of mashed potatoes. If it's still got bite to it, or is chewy, you want to cook it for a little while longer. Don't forget to stir frequently while the polenta is cooking. It adheres to the bottom of your pot very quickly!

Add all that cheesy goodness! Try not to drool into your pot as it melts. Pour it into your baking dish and bake until the polenta is beginning to set around the edges about 15 minutes.

While your cheesy polenta is baking, cook your sausage. Once it's fully cooked, add the Roasted Tomato sauce packet and oregano to your skillet. Make sure your sausage is fully coated in sauce.

Pour your saucy sausage over the top of your baked cheesy polenta. Top generously with the shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Feel free to use any cheese you have laying around. This would be good with cheddar, pepper jack, or even Oaxaca. Pop the dish back into the oven for about 10 minutes, or until your cheese is all melty and gooey and absolutely delicious. Again, refrain from drooling all over your dinner. I recommend serving immediately to avoid any potential for drool disasters.

* This recipe was adapted from the following blogs:

http://dinnersdishesanddesserts.com/italian-sausage-casserole/

http://blog.williams-sonoma.com/polenta-with-fontina-and-roasted-vegetables/

Mexican Cheesy Baked Polenta with Sausage

Serves 6 

1 cup stone-ground polenta

2 Tbsp butter

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

4 cups water (salted)

1 lb Italian sausage (I used hot)

1 package Old El Paso Roasted Tomato Cooking Sauce

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp chipotle powder (optional)

1/4 tsp cumin 

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

• Bring 4 cups of salted water to boil in a large saucepot. Slowly begin to pour in your polenta, a little bit at a time, stirring constantly.
• Continuing to stir, cook on medium heat until the polenta begins to thicken. This usually takes about 5 minutes or so.
• Reduce heat to low, and continue to cook, while stirring frequently until the polenta is soft. This takes about 25 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8 or 9in baking dish by spraying with a non-stick cooking spray.
• At this point, add butter, Parmesan, and cheddar. Stir until cheeses are fully melted and incorporated into the polenta.
• Pour the cheesy polenta into the prepared baking dish, smooth out the top, ensuring that the polenta covers the bottom of the pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until edges are beginning to brown.
• Meanwhile, in a skillet, brown your Italian sausage untilully cooked. Stir in your tomato sauce packet, chipotle, cumin, and oregano. Pour saucy sausage over the baked cheesy polenta. Top with the shredded Monterey Jack cheese.
• Put back in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until your cheese is completely melted. Serve immediately.

Menu Plan Week 3

Whew! The snow storm was pretty lame. Until Sunday night of course. I say of course because Sunday night was when we had plans to go out to dinner with friends. It didn't snow all day long then an hour before we were supposed to leave it started sticking to the roads. We made it safe and sound though and had a yummy dinner with our friends. Have you ever had wild boar? That's what I had with homemade ricotta gnocchi. Sooooo yummy! Here's what we're planning on eating at our house this week. Do you like the calorie counts? Would you rather calculate them on your own? Let me know in the comments.

Day 1:

Baked Ravioli

Day 2:

Chipotle Black Bean and Rice Skillet

Day 3:

Tuscan Garlic Chicken

Day 4:

Mexican Baked Polenta and Sausage

Day 5:

Ranch Pork Chops with Green Beans and Roasted Potatoes

Stick with your goals this week everyone, we've totally got this! See you all on Weigh In Wednesday!

Shrimp Scampi with Roasted Broccoli

We are getting set for a snowy weekend here in Pittsburgh. There are supposed to be 3 weather systems moving through the area, first one coming through tonight dropping 1-3in, freezing rain and flurries coming through on Saturday, and then Sunday night we're supposed to get 4-8in! By no means are we expecting to get snowed in, but we're looking forward to a snowy weekend together. Doesn't it sound nice to be snuggled up on the couch, watching the snow fall, in front of the fireplace? Oh, and I've got a bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub in my plans too!

Before all that though, I need to make dinner. I've got a super comforting, stomach filling, perfect for a cold January evening dinner for you. Shrimp scampi is delicious, but it's usually completely loaded with butter. Not joking, all the recipes I found called for an entire stick of butter. Not very diet friendly. Another problem with traditional shrimp scampi recipes is that they're pretty light on the veggies. I was determined to make something lighter and with more veggies. I hope you and your family can enjoy my healthier shrimp scampi with roasted broccoli.

First step is to zest a lemon. You need about a tablespoon of lemon zest.

Next chop up a shallot. A shallot is like a baby onion, except on steroids. They may be tiny, but they pack as much flavor as a regular onion. Here's a great article on shallot vs. onion. If you only have an onion, go ahead and use it. But I do highly recommend going out of your way for the shallot. Here's what they look like in case you're curious.

After everything is chopped, zested, and ready for cooking, go ahead and get your broccoli ready for roasting. Have you ever roasted your broccoli? If I'm being honest, this was my first time. I usually either steam it, or pop it in the microwave. I tossed my broccoli with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and some red pepper flakes then put it in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Before:

Boy oh boy when it came out of the oven it was all I could do to not shove it all in my mouth. It smelled delicious. I cut off the stems (saved them for lunch tomorrow), and put the heads aside to toss in my scampi. Of course I sampled one first. It was like caramelized broccoli. It had a nice deep flavor, but was kind of sweet too. Waaaayyy more flavorful than steaming.

After: 

Because I'm watching my calories, I bought a food scale to help with my portion sizes. One serving of angel hair pasta is 2oz. Remember we're making 2 servings.

This recipe only calls for 1 TABLESPOON of butter, not an entire stick! Get that into your pan and melt it.

Saute your garlic and shallots in the melted butter. Add liquids to make a sauce. Then let the sauce reduce by half. It should look something like this.

Add your shrimp to the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remember that you only need to heat your shrimp up because they're already fully cooked.

Next step is just finishing up the dish. Toss your shrimp, pasta, and broccoli together, fully coating everything in the sauce. And voila!

Stay safe and warm everyone!

Shrimp Scampi with Roasted Broccoli

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1lb frozen broccoli florets

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp salt

½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 shallots, diced

2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp lemon zest

Juice from half a lemon, about 2 Tbsp

4 oz angel hair pasta

1 Tbsp butter

¼ cup chicken stock

3 Tbsp white wine

Salt and pepper to taste

1lb medium pre-cooked shrimp, thawed

Directions:

1.     1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss frozen broccoli with olive oil, red pepper, black pepper, and salt. Pour out onto baking sheet, and roast for 15-20 minutes. Your broccoli should be starting to get brown around the edges. Set aside to toss with pasta and shrimp later.

2.     2. Cook pasta according to package instructions.

3.     3. Melt butter in sauté pan, add shallot and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until shallot becomes translucent and garlic is fragrant. Add chicken stock, wine, lemon zest and juice to pan. Scrape bottom of pan to release the delicious browned bits from the garlic and shallot. Bring sauce to a boil, continue to boil until sauce has reduced by half. Add shrimp to sauce, and toss to coat shrimp. Cook until shrimp is just heated through, then remove from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4.     4. Drain the pasta, then immediately toss with sauce, shrimp, and roasted broccoli. 

Weigh In Wednesday 2

Hello lovelies! Welcome to another Weigh In Wednesday. I hope the past 7 days have been kind to you. I can say that my hard work paid off this week. I'm down 3.4lbs. That 0.4 matters! I've got another 15 pounds to go until I reach my first goal of losing 20 pounds. I like rewards...and presents, who doesn't? But I typically reward myself with some kind of junk food, which doesn't really make sense when you think about it. Why get your diet and exercise all straightened out, finally start seeing some results, then go blow it on a bunch of junk from McDonalds? So, this time I've got something I've wanted for a long time lined up for my -20lb celebration. You'll just have to wait and see what awesome thing I have ready to go!

Last night we ended up going out to dinner and a movie. We went to Chili's for dinner and to see The Imitation Game after. The Imitation Game is about what Alan Turing did for Britain during World War II, and it was a really good movie. My husband is an absolute math geek, so a move about Alan Turing was right up his alley. Chili's is a great place to eat if you're on a diet. They have a wonderful menu of items that are under 600 calories. I had a 6oz sirloin with a spicy citrus chile sauce topped with grilled avocado slices, garlic roasted cherry tomatoes, steamed broccoli, and some spicy grilled shrimp. All that food added up to a whopping 490 calories (410 for the meal and an additional 80 for the shrimp). But seriously, how good does this look?

Miss Penny and I enjoyed our snowy afternoon getting caught up on some food blogs and watching the snow fall. Once the snow stopped falling I spent 2 whole hours shoveling our walkways and driveway. We have a big concrete pad at the bottom of our driveway, and if it doesn't get shoveled before it gets driven on, it turns into a giant sheet of ice that will not melt no how matter how warm it gets or how much salt you use. After I finished up, cooked and ate dinner, and sat down for a bit, my butt muscles hurt! E keeps making fun of me because I can barely walk! We're scheduled to get more snow overnight and tomorrow, so it looks like I'll be getting my snow shoveling workout in!

Meal Plan Week 2

Happy Monday lovelies! I had a nice relaxing, but productive weekend. Saturday, E and I cooked up some stretched ground beef for the freezer, and rented some movies to watch. We chose The Giver and Lone Survivor, both were really good. Lone Survivor was so sad though. It breaks my heart to think that each of those guys killed left behind a family. The end of the movie with the pictures of the actual men? I was bawling. Just gonna throw out a big THANK YOU to all of the men and women in our armed forces out there doing what you do to keep us safe.

On Sunday we hosted a dinner party with a bunch of our friends. We managed to fit 13 people around our table for dinner! The theme was comfort food, so we feasted on kielbasa pigs in a blanket, pizza pull apart bread, grilled cheese bites and tomato soup shooters, fried chicken, mini chicken pot pies, pork mac and cheese, cheddar and sour cream mashed potatoes, Nutella brownies, and peanut butter cookies. Of course there was wine and beer. While the snow fell, we finished our evening proving ourselves terrible human beings with the game Cards Against Humanity.

I'm ready to get back on track with my healthy eating this week, although I was careful not to go overboard with our ridiculously decadent comfort food dinner. Here's the game plan for dinners this week. Although I'm purposefully leaving one meal out. I wanted to make chicken and dumplings for a dinner, and the recipe calls for shredded chicken. I thought I had some frozen, but the package I pulled out to thaw looks suspicious. I'm really not certain what's inside because I didn't put a label on it. So once it thaws and I can tell if it's a chicken carcass or shredded chicken I'll decide if I'm making chicken and dumplings or pork chops.

Oh! I almost forgot. I'm participating in something called Weigh In Wednesdays. Every Wednesday morning, before breakfast, I'll be stepping on the scale. Last week I was down 1lb. I was honestly a little disappointed with that number, given all the hard work I did, but I need to remember that this isn't a race. Every pound that comes off is a success. Here's to another week of hard workouts and healthy eating. Good luck on your journeys this week!


Monday:
Mock Lasagna
418 cals per serving

Tuesday:
Creamy Parmesan and Sundried Tomato Chicken with Garlic Sauteed Spinach
686 cals per serving










Wednesday:
?


Thursday:
Black Bean and Roasted Corn Quesadillas served with Mexican Rice
628 cals per serving (does not include rice)












Friday:
Shrimp Scampi with Roasted Broccoli
428 cals per serving











Smoothie:
Carrot and Pineapple Smoothie
97 cals per serving









* For the record, most recipes are not my original recipes, but you can follow the links back to their original authors. All calorie counts are based off data personally entered into MyFitnessPal.com, and may or may not be accurate for you based on varying ingredients, serving sizes, or cooking methods.

Mediterranean Tilapia

I made this yummy fish for dinner on Wednesday. As part of our healthier eating initiative, E and I have decided to try and eat fish at least once a week. Fish is a great low fat protein. It's full of omega-3 fatty acids (can lower elevated triglyceride levels), and vitamins like D (necessary for calcium absorption) and B2 (important for iron metabolism). We're both new to cooking and eating fish regularly so we're experimenting with different recipes for fishes that we're familiar with. We used tilapia in this recipe. Overall it was a delicious and filling meal that we'll definitely make again!

Ingredients:
4 medium zucchini, sliced into rounds
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tilapia fillets
salt and pepper to season fish
1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes, drained*
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp capers
Approximately 20 Kalamata olives, quatered**

* I used basil, oregano, and garlic seasoned tomatoes. I like a lot of garlic ok?
** I dislike black olives, which is why I buy Kalamatas at my grocery store's antipasto bar. But if you're so inclined go ahead and use canned black olives.

After you slice your zucchini into rounds, place in a saucepan with the garlic and olive oil. I cheat here and use pre-minced and jarred garlic, it's a great time saver! However, the flavor is probably a little more dull than if you use fresh, so adjust garlic amount to fit your taste buds! Saute the zucchini and garlic until zucchini is crisp tender (the vegetable version of al dente) or the edges are just beginning to brown. You're going to put it in the oven for 30 minutes, so unless you want to serve zucchini mush, don't fully cook it at this point.

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the sauteed zucchini and garlic in the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. I did not spray my pan with any non-stick spray, and it came out just fine. Place the fish fillets on top of zucchini, sprinkle with salt and pepper to season.

In a mixing bowl, add the tomatoes, lemon juice, olives, and capers. Mix together, then spoon over each fish fillet, completely covering the fish. Place fish in 400 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes. Fish should be completely opaque and flake easily.

We served ours over a bed of brown rice. For the record, I don't really care for brown rice. I always make mine in chicken broth (cheater tip: dissolved bullion cube) instead of plain water. It adds just a bit of much needed flavor. I struggled with how to serve this, I really wanted to serve it with pasta. So I popped into my friendly SparkPeople.com, which offers food comparisons, for some guidance. Well, I'm still not really sure why we're supposed to eat brown rice, the nutrition facts are basically the same. I chose brown rice because it just sounded and felt healthier than pasta. I'll get back to you on why we should choose one over the other. Anywho, here's the finished dish! I hope you're able to enjoy this healthy recipe with your family!

Meal Plan Week 1

Hello internet lovelies! Here's my dinner plan for this week:

Monday

- Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup
   546 cals per serving











Tuesday
- Crispy Skillet Hash and Eggs
   478 cals per serving











Wednesday
- Mediterranean Fish served with brown rice
   263 cals per serving (for the fish only)











Thursday
-  Spinach and Feta Crescents served with salad
    582 cals per serving (4 rolls)











Friday
- Tomato Parmesan Chicken served with broccoli and pasta
   243 cals per serving (for chicken only)











Smoothie
- Beets and Greens Smoothie
   182 cals per cup











Saturday 
- leftovers
Sunday
- dinner with friends

If you're interested in getting these recipes (and more!) follow my Dinner This Week board on Pinterest (username Msc120687). All of my calorie counts were calculated with MyFitnessPal.com. Have a great week everyone! Don't forget to check back in on Friday to see which recipe I'm blogging about!

Mall Walking

We are 5 days into setting new habits. I have gotten at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity everyday, I've had a Shakeology shake every day, I've tracked all of my activity, and I've cooked 4 (soon to be 5) meals.

For my activity I've been trying to walk my 10,000 steps per day. I've been walking on the treadmill for the length of a Netflix show (I've been watching Gossip Girl, Revenge, and Scandal). Or I've been going to the mall and mall walking. Our mall is basically a giant circle and one lap around is just under a mile and about 2,000 steps. So I walk 4-5 laps get my distance in. I have literally been doing ZERO exercise , so I'm just trying to increase my stamina and get my heart rate up.

I'm lucky that I live somewhere that gets snow. Wait, did I really just type that? Must be the endorphins talking! No, but seriously, shoveling snow is a serious workout! We haven't really gotten a serious snowfall yet, but enough that I can spend an hour - 2 hours outside shoveling. I am totes counting that as my exercise. Fitbit doesn't register shoveling snow as exercise, so I've been logging it as mowing the lawn. Yesterday I was so sore that it literally hurt to walk. Go shoveling! Bring on the snow mother nature!

The shakes are starting to grow on me. At first I didn't think they were going to fill me up, or keep me full. But they do a really good job of bother. I haven't been sticking to a meal to replace, either breakfast or lunch, depending on what I want to eat. I love eggs! So if I wake up and really want some scrambled eggs, I'm going to eat them, then have a shake as my lunch. Chocolate and Strawberry are my favorites. I don't care for the Greenberry flavor so much. I like to make the chocolate flavor with a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk (30 cals), a half cup of cold brew coffee concentrate (the best thing Trader Joe's sells), 6 ice cubs, and a scoop of shake. It is delicious. I honestly like it as much as the frozen kona from Sheetz, and that's really saying something if you know me. I've been making the strawberry shake with the same cup of almond milk, a cup of frozen mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries), and a scoop of shake. It's good, but it's not great. It's totally drinkable, but not something a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Each shake comes in at 160-190 cals.

I don't really have a dinner recipe to post on here, cuz I sucked at remembering to take pictures this week. Sorry! Now off to finish my walk and get those 10,000 steps in!

Goals for 2015

We're 1 week into the new year, and I'm proud to say that I've been sticking to my goals. What are my goals you ask?

1. Get at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity per day
2. Eat 3 meals per day
3. Drink Shakeology for at least 1 meal per day
4. Cook a healthy dinner at least 4 nights per week
5. Track my activity, food, water, and sleep with my fitbit everyday

These are measurable, challenging, but attainable goals. I would ideally love to lose 50lbs, but I don't want to box myself into a corner. I am going to stick to my exercise and food goals and hopefully weight loss will follow. In addition to these hard fast goals, I have some that I'm not ready to put in a quantifiable structure. Such as,

1. Eat more fruits and veggies
- I had a lot of success with Weight Watchers because I could eat as many fruits and veggies as I wanted. But I'm going to be honest here, I don't like fresh fruit. I've never been a fruit eater. I don't think fresh juicy strawberries are delicious. Watermelon is not refreshing. But I love juice! So to increase my fruit and veg intake, I'm going to try and sneak them in. For example, I plan on drinking a fruit and veg smoothie after dinner as a dessert. I've stretched my ground beef with carrots, onions, and celery (more on this later).

2. Eat whole foods
- Over the past year I've been cutting out processed foods. Does that mean I'm never going to eat a prepackaged meal ever again? No, that's unrealistic. But I'm going to try my best to cook things from scratch. Not only is it more economical, it's healthier. Example? I'm going to make my own whole wheat bread. I'm also planning on making my own yogurt!

3. Blog more
- Putting my meal plans out there for the world to see keeps me accountable. I need accountability. I want to not be embarrassed about what I eat and my weight anymore. So my plan is to blog my meal plan for the week on Monday, and then post a recipe and how the week went on Friday.

4. Practice Frugality
- I've gotten into a bad habit of buying things to buy things. My goal is to only buy something that I truly need, will improve my quality of life, or something that after a week I've decided I cannot live without. A vlogger I follow on YouTube (LaVitaDiMeg) is frequently recommending things, such as a beautiful floral and gold tumbler from Starbucks. I wanted this tumbler so bad, because it was pretty. But I decided that I didn't need it because I already have 3 tumblers that I use on a regular basis. I was still thinking about it weeks later, so I looked into purchasing one, but they were completely sold out everywhere. Turns out I didn't need it, I just wanted it. And I'm not upset that I didn't get to buy one.

Do you have any new year's resolutions that you are going to follow this year? Let's work together on keeping each other accountable!

I Lost 2014

As my first post of 2015, I would like to apologize for not blogging AT ALL in the past year. Personally, it was a really crappy year and I'm looking forward to this year. I've got a lot of goals to accomplish!

Want a recap of 2014? Well my crappy year really started 12/24/13. That's the day the sickness set in, which by the second week of January had developed into full blown pneumonia. About a week after the diagnosis, Faith got really sick. We ended up having to put her to sleep. Turns out she had a cancerous tumor on essentially every organ in her abdomen. The poor thing starting getting sick around dinner time and could barely breath 24 hours later. I guess it was a blessing that she didn't suffer for very long.

The whole experience at the animal hospital was very surreal. A day before Faith got sick, a German shepherd police dog named Rocco was stabbed in the line of duty. Fate would have it that Faith and Rocco were bunked next to each other at the hospital. While I was visiting my sick dog, I broke down crying and felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see a police officer, visiting his sick partner, also crying. As fate would have it, Rocco passed away that night, about 20 minutes before Faith. So when we came to say goodbye to Faith, we were met on the way by 2 full miles of police cruisers with their lights on, parked on the highway to honor Rocco. As Faith took her last breath, there was a full band of bagpipers playing Amazing Grace. Not many dogs get to go to heaven with a full honor guard and while being serenaded by bagpipes. It was absolutely devastating to lose Faith, but it was comforting to know that she was going to heaven with such a great guard dog by her side. It was a night that Ethan and I will never ever forget.

After burying my poor doggy, I really started having a bad time. I was working straight nightshift, I was eating poorly, sleeping poorly, and spending all my free time trying to catch up on sleep. It got so bad that I couldn't sleep in the same bed as my husband, because we spent so few nights together. I didn't want to leave the house because that meant I had to put effort into my appearance. I ignored my friends, making up all sorts of excuses not to go out. And you better believe that I had no energy to exercise!

So by October I decided that I needed to make some changes to take better care of myself. The first step was leaving my job. It wasn't a choice that I took lightly, I loved my job. But I needed to love my health, marriage, family, and friends more. So I quit right before Thanksgiving, which was great because I needed every spare minute to prepare for the 12 family members that stayed in my house for the holiday! Talk about a full house. After that Ethan and I went to NYC for my birthday and had a great time eating pizza and riding the trains. We went to Coney Island and the 9/11 memorial on my birthday. It was really cool being at the ocean in December. I had only ever seen the ocean in the summer. It was also really awesome, but incredibly sad to be at the memorial on my birthday. Someone places a flower in the name slot of every person killed on their birthday. It was really moving to see the dozen or so white roses scattered around the memorial, and to know that those people should have all been celebrating like me.

A week later hubs and I left for Cancun, Mexico! I got sick with the stomach flu one day before we left. Who gets sick before they go to Mexico? We spent one night in downtown Cancun, taking in an authentic Cancun experience. We went to a market and had authentic Mexican street food and saw a local Christmas program. We were literally the only tourists there. There was a sweet woman who made me the best empanadas that I will probably ever eat. I was still feeling sick and just wanted to eat some bread. Well she made some dough, filled it with oaxaca cheese (similar to fresh mozzarella crossed with string cheese), and fried it. So yummy, and literally the only thing I could keep down. That woman is my Cancun hero! The next day we took a cab 2 hours south to our resort in Tulum. We spent the next week enjoying our oceanfront suite, the sea, our private jacuzzi, and of course all the delicious sea food! I ate fresh Mahi Mahi for lunch everyday. The fish was caught off the coast of the resort, filleted, then grilled right in front of you. It doesn't get much more fresh than that.

Christmas was eventful, but since the events involve a private family thing, I'm not going to put it on the Internet. But it was nice to spend the time with my family and not have to worry about work. And again, I was sick. However, this year I had time to take care of myself and I can proudly say that I am healthy!

Oh yeah....WE GOT A PUPPY! After Faith passed I was really hesitant to get another dog, especially a corgi. When I decided that I was ready for another dog and corgi, I discovered that it was really really hard to find a corgi pup. One day in August I got an alert that said "we have a female corgi pup, are you interested?" From the first time I saw her picture, I knew she was my dog. So Internet, meet Penny!

Penny, Ethan, and I are looking forward to having a great year. We hope that 2015 brings you all that you want too! Happy New Year!