recipes!

hi friends!! welcome to the new layout of my blog :) my friend Kim helped me figure all this business out. I'm normally GREAT with most things internet, this blogger had me feeling ALLLL stupid. :) Now that I actually know what I'm doing, I just might change it up often....we'll see.

Tonight Teddy and I had planned to spend some quality time together. But, he had to go into work. bummer! So to busy myself I've watched some sermons & spent time with the Lord, read blogs, listened to my favorite pandora station (Meredith Andrews), and just dug deeper into some spiritual topics I'm wanting to learn more about. It has been wonderful.

I realized I haven't put up any recipes in a while & I'm still trying new ones constantly, so I need to share!! No pictures, sorry!

Well I was going to type it all out. But makes more sense to just post the link. All three of these recipes come from my new favorite place...Eat Better America (click the link)My friend, Jaclyn, from lifehouse told me about it. I LOVE IT!

Chicken Tortilla Casserole: We both liked this & were able to eat on it multiple days! Yay for left overs! (I would have never said that 2 years ago...but now that it feels like I'm always cooking, I really dig leftovers) :)

Garlic Shrimp Pasta: Make sure you have everything to go before you begin cooking this. Everything happens so quick. My kitchen was an absolute disaster after I cooked this. I didn't prep well, and it stressed me out. Plus, I think I cooked the shrimp too long with the wine/broth so alot of it evaporated. Whoops! I steamed some squash & zucchini for a side. Not read re-heated because the spinach is soggy. I will try to cook this again but not let all the wine/broth steam away...:) Oh and I did wheat pasta instead.

Skillet Lasagna: This was yummy! I also did wheat noodles for this. I did use the organic sauce and noticed nothing different! I found it at our local farmers market/grocery place. No where to be found at wally world. This was also great re-heated!

Not from eat better america-
Ranch Cheeseburgers: Again, another good one. I used Turkey meat. We don't use ground beef anymore...everything turkey. (turkey sausage, turkey hotdogs etc) You could easily do less cheese. I will next time. These were great reheated. It makes 4 burgers (or more if you make smaller) so we ate them the next day! yummy!

Let me know if you cook any of these things!! :)
-Kells

random things

so at least a month ago or more I said I was going to stop biting my nails again. It took me a week from that point that I said that to stick to it, but so far so good. I really think keeping my fingers out of my mouth helped me to not get sick when everyone and their dogs were (all FEB). And the result is pretty nails. I've been painting them and all. Teddy really likes my nails long so I can "tickle" or scratch him whenever he ask :) plus, apparently he REALLY likes it when my nails are painted. Probably helps that his wife looks more like a lady with nails then with my nubs I usually showcase for all to see. Whatever it is, i'm gonna keep it. I'm REALLY going to try.

I bought a new pair of sandals this week. Teddy likes to tell me that I really don't NEED another pair. Therefore, I'm going to give away a few to compensate. Same with clothes...If I buy something new or get it second hand I need to do away with something I haven't worn in a while. This will keep our closet looking normal & a little more organized. It's a new concept, it's working so far!

They are a blue/turquoise type color

This past weekend we went to Josh & Katie Fields (how fun!) wedding. Teddy was a groomsman and had a blast with all his boys. The wedding was WONDERFUL! I loved the ceremony. I had never been to an outdoor wedding & the weather was great. Katie's dress was perfect...she looked beautiful! I'm really excited for their marriage & to add another friend to our married couple friends! Josh and Teddy go WAYYYY back to elementary school. So really it's a matter of the wives getting along...and we DO!

When I refer to Teddy and his boys, this is who I'm talking about...Rhyan, Matt, Josh, and Cameron. All from Iowa Park! (pic from Matt's wedding:Jenn Bellah Photography):

Katie walking down the isle. I love the sun here!

Sweet moment of nervous smiles and laughter!

My handsome husband & I

Off to Cancun!!



Oh and I would like to put it on record that I definitely made up for my lack of stay at home skills the next day (wednesday). I went to town on our apartment. Even dusted...I don't dust. It's kind of a big deal! I scrubbed and wiped down everything in sight. I think I'm going to wrap up my spring cleaning today by cleaning the dishwasher. No, it doesn't clean its self. I learned this recently on a housewife blog. Who knew? I will let you know how filthy it is later. Then I will take a moment to gag at the fact that I get my dirty dishes "clean" in there. blah! stay tuned!

-Kells

ONE year anniversary

I seriously can't believe one year has passed. I love my husband SO much and seriously can't imagine everyday without him. My love and respect has grown so much for him within 12 months! I'm so serious when I say I'm madly in love! :)

Our day to celebrate was perfect. We went to the movies at 10:30am to see The Kings Speech. We were a little late getting there, but I enjoyed the movie! We were pretty tired due to a busy wedding weekend (I'll talk about that more later)...so there were a few times when I started to dose off...but not because the movie wasn't good. I would suggest it!

Leaving the movie:


Next we went to lunch with my parents & amy/jason. We went to a new sports bar type place in Southlake. It was pretty good!

Next stop: Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens. It was PERFECT weather! Light breeze, sunshine with clouds. We had the best time walking around hand & hand chatting and looking at beautiful flowers. Teddy really enjoyed acting like a photographer & taking pictures of every pretty thing we passed. :) He did get some good shots! After about 3 hours of walking around we decided to take a break and exchange presents in the park on a blanket. We did the traditional present theme for 1 yr...paper. Pictures will do the rest of the talking for this part of our date.







GIFTS:


A coupon book full of dates I made for Teddy!

Our Vows printed out & framed!

A fun spiral Teddy designed for me. :)

My bouquet of paper flowers Teddy made!! I was THOROUGHLY impressed! He made them orange because my wedding bouquet was mostly orange. So thoughtful!

We got back to the house & he had one more surprise for me....

WE ARE GOING TO THE SUGARLAND CONCERT!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) a HUGE surprise!!


Last stop: The Melting Pot in Arlington. I can't even tell you how amazing this experience was. We have never done fondue and we had a blast! The restaurant was so perfect for an anniversary...cozy & romantic. We did a 4 course meal option. Cheese fondue, salad, meat fondue, and chocolate fondue. It took over 2 hours to finish everything! Our seating was perfect, a booth...yet not. We got to sit right next to each other and enjoy conversation all night! Highly recommend this place to EVERYONE!

Cheese fondue!

Brought our meat out like this (duck, ny strip, chicken, shrimp, peppercorn beef, cheese ravioli)

We cooked everything in the fondue pot. We also had vegetables & potatoes to cook in this pot!

All the yummy stuff to dip in our chocolate pot!


See what I mean...a booth, but not. We didn't have to sit across from each other!



We experienced so many things during this first year of marriage. We have laughed together, cried together, worshiped the Lord together, and ultimately fell more in love with each other! We are taking time to write out some of our favorite memories in a journal. We will use that journal to document each year of our marriage. Writing down hard things, funny things, life changing things etc.

Can't wait to see how this next year unfolds...:) I love you baby!
-Kells

stay at home wife...fail :)

I couldn't imagine being a stay at home wife with no kids. I will basically be doing that this week due to spring break on Tech's campus. I do have some work stuff to work on (organizing, emails, prayer letter, leadership reading) but it's low key.

Today I have already successfully done pretty much nothing. :) whoops. I'm positive I would struggle with this & productivity day in and day out if I didn't have a baby to tend to.

Here is what nothing looks like:
-sitting on the couch "watching" Tv majority of the day
-talked to Katie Bearden for 20 mins on the phone, Katie Bloemsma for a good 2 hours, talked to Ceri for 20 mins...all while sitting on the couch :)
-looked up new receipes from www.eatbetteramerica.com...and made a grocery list for this week. This week i'm trying Tender Turkey & wild rice, Garlic Shrimp Pasta, and Skillet Lasagna. All three have been "healthified"...making them healthier.
-deleted LOADS of emails and responded to a few
-wasted TOO much time on facebook & reading blogs

Teddy and I are going on a walk tonight after dinner! I thought about going to the step class today...I should have today during the afternoon...but again, I did nothing. Anyways, i'm off to the grocery store to feel productive.

Update on my awesome weekend soon!
-Kells

time is FLYING.

*warning:long post ahead*

I'm aware that I say that often. But sheesh, how is it already March?

This time last year I was ONE week away from becoming Mrs. Lytle. That's right...our anniversary is RIGHT around the corner. I'm so excited! We will be spending our anniversary in Ft. Worth. Not really by choice, because one of Teddy's best friend is getting married March 12th. We are SO excited for their wedding, but that means we can't really get anywhere fast enough to celebrate, other than Ft.Worth. But DFW has some pretty cool things! woohoo...ONE year.

I haven't wrote a real post in a while. What's new you ask?
1) Well I'm once again on the work out train. This time, motivation has stayed longer then 2 days :) I'm about to start my 3rd week of working out. My first week I worked out 4 days. Second week I did 3 days. And this week, I will probably end up doing 4 days because I do Sunday-Weds. It feels good. I've started doing classes: step & zumba. Those have helped me to maintain motivations for sure. I have enjoyed them. Plus, I do Zumba with Kim every Wednesday. And Teddy and usually work out together on Sunday's.

changing the way I eat is slowly moving in a different direction. That's the hardest part of this all. But, I am making better choices here and there. (which is a big deal) Also, learning to eat smaller portions and more throughout the day.

My goal is to fit into these cute shorts that were passed down to me from a friend. IT'S ON. :)

2) WE ARE OUT OF DEBT!!! TRUCK PAID OFF!!! $12,746.25...that is how much we paid in our first year of marriage towards debt. BOO! isn't that crazy? dadgum debt and interest. Praise God we are out of debt!! I'm proud, because we worked really hard to do this. We are trying to make some adjustments to where our "debt payment" will go. Thing is, like I told y'all a back in September (i think) we depleted our savings to $1,000....and you are suppose to keep it there until you get out of debt. Then take all your money you put towards debt and put it towards your savings and save up to 3-6 months in salary. This helps set the foundation of moving forward. But, it sucks when I've had this mentality that once we are out of debt we are DONE. It still feels like we are in debt because we are suppose to stick with the same budget, but also see why it's important to have that emergency fund between $5,000-$25,000. (again, according to Dave Ramsey)

3)Last week Teddy and I had a conversation about our time management. We have spent the past 6 months going from one thing to the next with our only night completely at home being Tuesday & Sunday's. It was difficult for us. Mostly because he gets off work at 6:30pm and our activites start at 7:15 (Monday night prayer at church) and 7:30 (small group on Wednesday) and then we are gone on Thursday nights 5-10pm normally for Cru weekly meeting & leadership training for my job. And then all of the month of Feb Teddy had to work every weekend for 12 hour shifts, instead of the normal every other weekend only 8 hours. We felt disconnected. We decided to nix Monday night prayer for now. Once he has a different job in life, we probably won't be getting off at 6:30, but hopefully 5:00pm. Then, it's not going to feel like we are rushing every where and feel the free to start going to Prayer again. We think this is a good step for us & the health of our marriage!


Ok, that will be all for now. I might think of more things later and write again. Hope you are doing wonderful!!
-Kells

currently in the oven...

no bun (baby) :) for real though...I'm talking about what I'm cooking currently!

I found this recipe 2 weeks ago and this is my second time to cook it. We like it obviously! Thought I would share!

Chicken Delight:

pre-heat oven to 350

Cut up squash and zucchini. Season chicken breasts with Jane’s Krazy (don't have this, so we use garlic salt & onion salt & pepper) and place each chicken breast on a large square of aluminum foil {one breast per square} and place sliced squash and zucchini over top. Also, I think cherry tomatoes (we haven't done this either) would also be delicious cut up and put on top with those squash and zucchini.


Then douse it with some store bought marinara {or make your own if you have time}.
Then comes the good stuff: mozzerella & parmesan.


Wrap it up in the foil and be sure to seal any cracks. But try to avoid wrapping it too tight, you’ll want to leave a little space between the cheese and the foil because you will be really sad if you have to scrape all your cheese off your foil.


Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.
Dinner is served...


I added some wheat linguine & side salad. yummy!
-Kells