Italian Pasta - Vegetables only

As I've mentioned before, I'm not into any type of diet, but I do want to eat less fast food, less junk food and more vegetables this year so I will be trying out new recipes, some healthy and some not so much.

- 16 oz. Whole wheat penne pasta (I only used about half)
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil (or vegetable oil)
- 3 Garlic Cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp.Italian Seasoning
- 1 Large Onion, sliced
- 1 to 2 Bell Peppers, sliced (I like using different colors, to make pasta look colorful)
- 1 small jar of Artichoke Hearts in seasoned oil, sliced. Save some of the oil in the jar.
- 1/2 to 1 medium Tomato, chopped
- Salt
- Fresh Lemon Juice, to taste
- Shredded Parmesan Cheese and/or Grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Cook pasta, drain, and set aside.
2. In a large skillet or wok, add the oil and garlic, cooking at medium heat.
3. When the oil is hot, rub Italian seasoning between your palms and add to oil.
4. Add onion, mix and cook about a minute.
5. Add bell peppers, mix and increase heat to high. Cook a couple of minutes.
6. Add salt, artichokes and a little bit of their oil. Mix well.
7. Add chopped tomatoes and cook 1 minute.
8. Add the cooked pasta and mix well.
9. Add a squirt of lemon juice, mix well and taste. Add more lemon if you'd like.
10. Mix until pasta is heated through.
11. Serve hot, garnished with shredded parmesan to taste.

I loooove this recipe! It's sooooo good and I can eat it everyday! Ofcourse you can adjust the ingredients to taste or add chicken and hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

Call a meeting with yourself

My brother borrowed a book called "The Daniel Fast" and he showed me a recipe in it and thats how the book caught my attention. I read parts of it and found many interesting things in it. I don't do diets so I'm not on the Daniel diet, but I would still like to share some things I read in the book. Some with the words from the book even if not quoted and other parts in my own words.

A section of the book talks about changing the way we live and analyzing our relationships, goals and life.

"We get into schedules and ways of life that form a momentum of their own and we just go along for the ride. Then we look back and wonder what happened to all the time."

She also speaks of calling a little meeting with yourself and even if I'm not on the diet, I thought it would be interesting to answer the following questions now that we started a new year.

"This is not a time for condemnation or remorse, but rather a time to take stock of yourself."

Get a notebook, pen, clear your head and try to answer the following:

1. What 5 things would you like to accomplish over the next twelve months?
(Ex: Five days a week dinners for the family, learning a new hobby, visiting new places, etc.)

2. What are 3 new habits you want to form?

3. What fears do you have that you want God to help you conquer?

4. Is there unforgiveness in your heart? Many of us have unresolved hurts and unforgiven wrongs that still weigh on us, perhaps even while you read these words, some thoughts or memories are bubbling on the surface.

I like question #4 in the book and makes sense, but ofcourse to me forgiving doesn't mean forgiving and letting people keep making empty promises and because you love and care for them, you keep allowing deception and betrayel into your life. There has to come a time when you realize that if they loved you, they wouldn't hurt you or take advantage of your love and kindness. Therefore, you have to put a stop to it and begin loving yourself because if you don't love yourself, its easy for others to not appreciate you, nor respect you or treat you the way you deserve to be treated, so as hard as it may be, it shouldn't be a choice.

5. Are there areas that are "out of order" in your life?
(Ex: unfinished projects, personal challenges, a to do list, etc.)

Change isn't easy, but we can do it by changing little by little or even one thing at a time. We are all stronger than we believe to be.

Its A New Chapter...

So the new year has begun and I believe its time...

Time to leave the past where it belongs.
Time to make positive changes,
without making excuses for the unhealthy cycles
and the bad habits.
Time to break free from any toxic people.
Time to spend time with the ones I love,
and that truly love me back and wont hurt me.
Time to forgive, let go and move on.
Time to free my heart from aches
and make room for what makes me happy.
Time to live, love, create and celebrate.

Wishing you all a happy 2014.

The art of letting go...

I'm not a big fan of Mariah Carey except for the song "All I Want For Christmas Is You", but sadly I'm not feeling it this year... instead, I can't get enough of her song "The Art of Letting Go".

Good-bye 2013...time to let go and make room for better things in 2014.

How do you mend a broken heart...

The questions are:

What do you do when the person you thought you'd be spending the rest of your life with, betrays you after many years? Especially, when you needed them the most and it was beyond clear to them.

How do you forget them?

What do you do with all those life time memories and pictures that take you back to all the good times you had, yet pictures are also what revealed the betrayal and you can see THEIR good times aswell? Or atleast, a few of them and you can't imagine how many more good times there were behind your back. I guess, it doesn't matter, even one time is enough since they robbed you of the time and those memories that could've been yours together.

Tough questions and I hope to soon find out the answers as time goes by, but for now, I'm completely shocked that if love was so grand as it supposedly was then why did this happen? why when I was at my worse, they were enjoying life together as if I didn't exist? As if I never existed. I will never know since no truth comes out of that mouth and really, nothing said can make a difference of the wrong that was done and the pain that was caused.

It is what it is, their life goes on together and as for me...

...

and so on and so on, until there's no longer an effort to try to be strong and those horrible memories will be just THAT, stupid memories of someone that took me for granted and didn't know how to RESPECT what we had.

Christmas Cupcakes 2013

You can't tell in this picture, but the cupcakes are also topped with glitter and a bit of pretty shimmering sugar.

Grinchmas Theme Party Ideas

Grinchmas party themed ideas...

 Grinch Wreath 

Hats for your guests  

Made this hat out of icing tub lid, pipe cleaners, cotton ball, ribbon and hot glue.



I printed big and small pictures of the grinch, max and some of the other characters and hung some on the tree as ornaments,others on the walls as decoration. The glass ornament has green feathers and green glitter inside of it and a fabric grinch photo on it with a metal heart.



Covered a birthday hat with red ribbon that feels like plastic, made a border with glittered tulle, a pom pom on top and a bottle cap with the grinch's picture, silver garland leaves and a light green feather.

 



Chocolate trees made with a tree mold, chocolate tinted in different colors and a little gold luster.



 I got the idea of the grinch pill from the internet and I got inspired to make one from max too. Actually from his groomer! On a website, I found brown cotton candy that tastes like cherry, but it looks like fur and it's called Werewolf hair or something like that, so I packaged it as you see above.


These I made just because it went with the christmas theme even though it has nothing to do with the Grinch.




Grinch, Max and Christmas cake pops.

 

I tried to do a grinch on my nail with a toothpick and the colors I already had at home. Also, made Grinch hairclips.

For picture background, I covered a book case with a black plastic tablecloth and drew added rectangles of red posterboard to resemble bricks and traced them in white acrylic paint. In the center I drew a fire with a few "wood logs" made of paper towel rolls painted in brown and black. It was for one night only so I used what I already had in hand, but about 3-4 days later, I had to clean it up because the paint started peeling off. The quote above the "chimney" read:
"MAYBE CHRISTMAS HE THOUGHT, DOESN'T COME FROM THE STORE. MAYBE CHRISTMAS ...PERHAPS...MEANS A LITTLE BIT MORE!"

My Christmas tree was really small. It was white, I added white lights to it and made glittered red, green & silver ornaments. Also, a clear ornament filled with green glitter and light green feathers and on the outside, the Grinch's face and red heart.