New Year, New Beginning

I usually like to make new years resolutions, but this year I struggled with what it or they would be. 2009 was a year of learning (and we all know that learning usually comes with trials and pain) in many ways for me and I am ready to take what I have learned and apply it daily to my life. What I have learned this past year that I really want to apply to this year is PEACE. Peace in the midst of trials, peace in the quiet moments, peace in relationships, peace in my mind and in my heart. So this year is going to be a year of peace for me. I am going to strive to seek and stay close to the spirit each and every day. To look for those moments when I know for a fact that God is speaking to me, revealing things to me and helping me along the way. I am going to activly strive to seek God daily for I know in Him is the only real, true and lasting PEACE of which I am so grateful for!

Christmas Card Photos (some we used, and some we didnt - you'll see why :-)

Lights on Temple Square

Tonight we went downtown to see the lights on temple square. The lights were amazing as always and it was great to feel the wonderful Christmas spirit all around. What wasnt so enjoyable was the COLD weather!! My hands were so frozen I couldnt use them - they hurt so badly!! Liane on the other hand was so bundled up that she enjoyed it all! We love temple square!!

Decorating the Christmas tree!!

This was Liane's first year decorating the Christmas tree and she LOVED it! It was so fun to watch her get into it and find joy in acomplishing it. We love the end result!

Disney Princesses on Ice Show

This month Liane had the opportunity to go with her Grandma and Grandpa Cano and Aunt Lilly to the Disney Princess Ice show. In preparation I totally brainwashed Liane into liking the Disney Princesses (ok so it really wasnt brainwash... or at least she didnt resist it at all :-) Liane had the princesses down and LOVED the show! She especially loved wearing her Cinderella costume to the show... so cute! Thanks Grandma, Grandpa and Lilly for taking her!!

The yummiest & healthiest little meatballs ever!

Ok so most of you already know that I am into eating/cooking healthy meals. You then also know that I am way into adding grains and veggies into whatever I can. Here is an example of what I mean and how I do it...

Tonight I made your simple Spaghetti and Meatballs, but I added my own twist.

1 lb ground turkey

1 egg

1/2 onion finely chopped

1 small zucchini finely chopped

1/2 cup frozen spinach finely chopped

2 cloves garlic chopped

2 cups cooked quinoa*

2 cups wheat bran

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

seasonings to taste

I use a small chopper to get my veggies super finely chopped so you really dont see much of them once done.

Mix, roll into big tablespoon size balls, cook in pan coated with cooking spray. Wa-la!!

The beauty of making the meatballs this way is that you get about DOUBLE the amount of "meat" you would get just using the meat without adding anything to it. This recipe made about 50-60 meatballs. We used some in our dinner tonight, saved some for lunch tomorrow and I froze 30 more for future meals. WONDERFUL!!!! Makes more meals AND you get so much more fiber, protein and veggies in your diet!!!!

I do this with ANY recipe I use ground turkey for... burgers, chili, meat sauces, lasagne, etc...

I also substitute the grains with other grains and/or seeds, depending on what I have at the time... such as oat bran, vegetable protein, ground flax seed, ground pumpkin seed, etc...

I as well substitute the veggies... carrots work great!!, broccoli, cauliflour (great pureed and added to mashed potatoes too), sweet potatoes etc... just be creative thats all I do!

Try it, and enjoy!!

*Quinoa/1/2 cup dry
Calories
318
Total Fat (g)
4.9
Saturated fat (g)
0.5
Monounsaturated fat (g)
1.3
Polyunsaturated fat (g)
2
Dietary fiber (g)
5
Protein (g)
11
Carbohydrate (g)
59
Cholesterol (mg)
0
Sodium (mg)
18
Riboflavin (mg)
0.3
Vitamin E (mg)
4.1
Copper (mg)
0.7
Iron (mg)
7.9
Magnesium (mg)
179
Manganese (mg)
1.9
Phosphorus (mg)
349
Potassium (mg)
629
Zinc (mg)
2.8

Fun pics of Liane

Liane loves to go into the cupboards and get food out to feed to her baby. What a good mommy she is!!
Liane has been home sick for a week now and so the other day I decided to something fun with her. We made oatmeal raisin cookies and she "helped". She loves to eat the dry ingredients as Im getting the rest of it mixed. Too cute!!

Halloween Pics (finally)

For Halloween we all got together to eat and go trick-or-treating. Each family made and brought a soup to our house to share and when finished we got the kids dressed up (and some adults did too) and went trick-or-treating! It was a nice night out ( you never know here in UT) and the kids had a blast (ok we did too!). When we finished trick-or-treating we came back to the house and had hot chocolate and pie. Yummy!

Birthday Celebrations

Pozole... yummmm!
Liane playing around

Salomon and Carlos being... themselves (trying on costumes for halloween)

Back in October we celebrated both my mother and father in-laws birthdays. Here are some pics from one of the festivities. Yum-O!

Fall or Winter?

As usual in Utah, the fall season lasts about a couple weeks and boom, its winter!! So sad to me because I LOVE FALL!! I dont mind the snow, in fact I kind of enjoy it, but can we just enjoy the wonderful fall colors and temps a little longer????!!!! We had our first "snow" - if you can call it that - yesterday. We did enjoy what little of it we got.