The waiting begins...

Just thought I'd throw in a quick blurb about how Eric finally got to submit his residency application this past weekend! After working on it for two and a half months and then staying up until midnight Friday night re-working his personal statement, all of his information is officially out there for his 20 chosen programs to see. Now we just get to wait for someone to invite him for an interview....

Here's a quick list of the 18 cities we might end up in next year (in no particular order):

Boston, MA
Farmington, CT
New Haven, CT
Pittsburgh, PA
Providence, RI
Baltimore, MD
Richmond, VA
Charlottesville, VA
Louisville, KY
Winston-Salem, NC
Chapel Hill, NC
Durham, NC
Charleston, SC
Atlanta, GA
Nashville, TN
Birmingham, AL
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO

Where do you think we'll go??

1000.

That's how many miles I've gone on foot in the last year!

I know it's silly... and no one else cares... but it's a goal I've had for a LONG time and I'm really proud of myself for reaching it (especially through moving, falling, first trimester sickness, etc. etc.)

In case you haven't figured it out, I am AVID about keeping track of my exercise. It gives me a way to challenge myself to push harder, do better. Who better to compete against than myself? I'm always here, and I can always push myself a little further. That's why I love running. I'm the one I have to beat.

So last year when I actually ran the whole year long and got in 775 miles, I knew it was only a matter of time before the day would come when I could look back and see that I'd done 1000 miles in the previous year.

That day was Sunday. And, I must say, it felt pretty stinkin' good.

Not all of it was running. Maybe 200-250 miles were on the elliptical or walking. Still, 1000 miles is 1000 miles. And of that I am proud.

Of course I can't just stop there. I'm not so naive as to think that I'm going to be breaking any records anytime soon considering I've got a baby coming in five short months. But hopefully I can maintain my 1000 mile status for a few months at least. And post baby... who knows... maybe a marathon???

BARR.

That's how I've been remembering everything I want to post about. I've been meaning to update for like, oh, 3 weeks now. I'm an awful blogger.

B - Well, the most obvious exciting news is that we're having a BABY in January!!! Feel free to read more about Baby Yates in our Baby Blog (linked on the side). This is the primary reason that I have posted very very little this summer. Keeping baby a secret was sooo hard!

Of course, the other reason I haven't posted much is that being pregnant made it basically impossible for me to cook for about 6 weeks - aka NO new recipes.

My morning sickness has finally abated, but now that it's over, I realize that I was actually pretty miserable. The whole time I had it, I kept saying, "well, I don't feel great, but I'm not too bad."

Yeah, now that I feel normal again, I can safely say that it was pretty bad. I just forgot what normal felt like. LoL. BUT it wasn't so bad I wouldn't do it again.

And, while Eric felt awful for me, HE loved the fact that we ate out about 5 times a week (primarily pizza -- baby's food of choice. I think we know whose child this is!!)


A - Our 4th Anniversary was two weeks ago!! It's hard to believe it's already been four years since our cute little wedding.

We've gone from two college kids to almost-parents. Eric's an almost-doctor. We've moved across the country. Gotten our first house. Gone on crazy vacations. It's been a really hard, but a really fun four years. It amazes me to see what different people we are now and how we've grown together and managed to become even closer and more grounded. 

I love this awesome guy more and more every day, and I'm more proud to be his wife than I can say!! 

R - You may think pregnancy has stopped my running, but think again!! I'm as slow as Christmas, but so far I've managed to keep up approximately 3 miles/day on average this summer. Trust me, when you're fatigued, nauseated and grouchy, that's an accomplishment!! 

So far I've gone about 660 miles this year. Not too shabby. AND, if I can keep up this 3 miles a day thing until August 20, I will have gone 1000 miles in the last year. I know, there are plenty of marathon runners who do that in like two months. Still, for a girl who started out doing NOTHING three years ago, I'd say 1000 miles a year is pretty darn good. :-) 

R - The last R is for Residency. That's right, in just a few short months, Eric will officially be Dr. Yates, MD. Woohoo!! Then we will be off on a new journey through his Internal Medicine residency. From now until March, however, we get to play the whole application game again. Here's a timeline for how all of this fun stuff works:

September - Eric submits his application that he's been working on for months. He's applying to 15-20 different programs, from Massachusetts to Colorado. (Thankfully this is WAY less time consuming and expensive than when he was applying to medical school)!

November-December - Interviews! Hopefully he'll get several interviews at different programs. He'll drive or fly to visit the hospitals and talk with the faculty he'd be working with. If he gets some interviews in November, we're hoping I can go with him so I can check out housing, etc. too. 

January - Rank List! Really we have until the beginning of February to do this, but since our sweet little baby is coming toward the end of January, I'm thinking we better have it done early! Basically, after interviewing, Eric ranks the programs according to how much he likes them. If there's one he interviews at that he definitely does NOT want to go to, he can choose not to rank it. So that's nice. Anything we put on the rank list is fair game for a residency match though! 

Monday, March 11 - Eric will get a nice email saying whether or not he matched. You see, Eric and every other 4th year medical student in the world will have turned in these rank lists, and so have the programs that interviewed them. All the information gets entered into some huge computer with some amazing algorithms that spit out where each person is going to go. The unfortunate thing is that, every now and then, there are more applicants than spots, or people apply to too many good programs that don't rank them very high. Scary! So those people find out Monday they are NOT matched and have to call programs all over the country to try and find a spot in any specialty that will take them. If they don't, they have to take a year off or do research for a year until Match day rolls around again. We are, of course, praying this does NOT happen to us!!

Friday, March 15 - Match Day! For anyone who doesn't know, Match Day is THE culmination of medical school. Every 4th year in every school across the US gathers with their classmates at noon EST, and in unison, every matched student opens an envelope that tells them where they will be spending the next 3-7 years of their life. It's really pretty cool. But I guarantee you we will NOT be able to sleep the night before!! 

Monday, May 20 - Graduation. After Match Day, everything's pretty much downhill. Eric takes a capstone course, we get a few weeks to go find a place to live, etc. And then graduation weekend comes. 

May still seems like a LONG way away, and there's so much happening between now and then. Still, it's crazy that SO many changes will be taking place in such a short amount of time!! For now, I am really just trying to enjoy, well, NOW. Being pregnant. Spending time with our friends here. Living in our cute little house. Enjoying our wonderful church fellowship. Winston-Salem is as much a home as anywhere else I've lived, and I plan on savoring our time here as much as I possibly can!!

Summertime!

So, I should definitely preface this post by saying that I have never been a gardener. I don't come from gardening people. I grew a flower or two. Once. When I was 10. But something about having a yard (and living in a place where it's not 105 all summer) made me think that maybe, just maybe, it was possible. 

So I talked to my friend Madeline and we teamed up to start growing some spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and a few other veggies in my backyard. Not everything has taken (you can see some empty spots back there for sure), but I've been really pleased with the results!

Tomato plants that went CRAZY (this was 2 weeks ago - now they're almost as tall as me and have about 20 green tomatoes growing!) Next time I do a garden, we'll definitely be planting these farther apart!

Lettuce (also 2 weeks ago) - Sadly, this is about dead. It's been growing since March though, and I haven't had to buy lettuce for Eric's sandwiches in months!

Red pepper (with some okra popping up behind there). Once again, two weeks old -- it's bigger now!

Our spinach was great for a month or two, but went the way of the lettuce. It's an "early season" plant. We can probably plant some more in late August!

We also have our zucchini plants going crazy. I'm hoping they'll produce something soon. Oh, and there's a jalapeno or two popping out too!

In other news, Eric and I took a [very quick] vacation to Myrtle Beach a couple of weeks ago. We'd never been to Myrtle before, but it was about what we expected - lots of gimmicky stuff, but still a nice beach. We sprung for a room with a balcony over the ocean. Worth every penny!

We honestly spent about 75% of our time just laying our bed with the door open listening to the ocean while watching cable. We're really exciting, right? LoL. 

We went out to eat every night (that's the point of vacation, isn't it?) -- Hard Rock Cafe, Landry's Seafood, and, our last night a little Chick-Fil-A so we could have dessert at the Melting Pot.

While we're not big on all the cheeky stuff, we did decide to go play a quick round of putt-putt at this goofy place called Mount Atlanticus.

I know, you're wondering how we survived with all of the dinosaurs and loch ness chasing us, right? Haha.

What can I say? We're dorks. (But awesome ones).

Anyway, it was fun to get away for a few days. We have another little "vacation" coming up to Atlanta so Eric can take his last big test of med school. The test part's a bummer, but I'm pretty excited about going to the Coca Cola Factory and doing some shopping while we're there! 

This summer's not near as exciting as the last, well, six or seven (Spain, Mexico, marriage, moving, Europe, Hungary), but I'm enjoying our last summer here with Eric in med school. It's kind of crazy that a year from now he will be a resident! So I'm just going to soak up my time while I've got it... before the real work begins!

Delicioso.

Here's a few more things I've tried recently: 

Cauliflower Fritters
What a great side dish!!

• 4 cups steamed cauliflower, chopped (I just use the Steamfresh garlic cauliflower bag and omit the garlic that comes next)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano (or if you're cheap like me, mixed Italian cheese. :-)
• 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup hot water
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Mix all ingredients except the oil. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Form patties with the cauliflower mixture. Cook in oil until lightly browned, about one minute on each side. These are great dipped in marinara!

(photo shows fritters, poppers and ricotta-stuffed shells)

Cauliflower Poppers

These are almost too easy to be called a recipe.

Just chop up some cauliflower (as always, I use the Steamfresh garlic cauliflower because it's cheaper and I'm lazy), spray it with oil, and pop it in the oven at 450 for 30-45 minutes!

Ricotta-Stuffed Shells

1 box jumbo pasta shells

1 8-oz container of ricotta cheese

¼ c. grated parmesan cheese

¼ c. mozzarella cheese

fresh spinach spinach (as much as desired)

1 egg

1 can pasta sauce

Browned italian sausage or hamburger meat (if desired)

Preheat oven to 375˚. Boil shells until almost tender. Drain and allow to cool. Mix ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and half of mozzarella in a medium bowl. Stir in spinach and egg. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan with pasta sauce (should use about 1/3 of the can). Fill shells with about 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture each (and meat if you're adding it). Cover with additional pasta sauce (about 1/3 of the can). Bake for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat remaining pasta sauce. Cover with additional pasta sauce and remaining mozzarella before serving. 

Maple-Dijon Chicken (aka "Man Pleasing Chicken" for my pinterest friends!)

This was soooo good! I served it with risotto and sauteed squash.

1/2 c. dijon mustard

1/4 c. pure maple syrup

1 T. apple cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar

1 lb. chicken (I used breasts, but you can use any part you desire!)
a few sprigs of rosemary

Heat the oven to 450. Put chicken in a greased pan. Mix mustard, syrup, vinegar and rosemary together and pour over chicken. Bake 35-40 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165. 

Cake Batter Bars

I made these for a work party. They weren't super pretty, but they were definitely a hit!

• 1 1/4 cup funfetti cake mix
• 3/4 cup AP flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 5 heaping tablespoons sprinkles of your choice (I used stars)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8 x 8 inch pan.
2. Cream both sugars, butter, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. 
3. Gradually mix in flour, cake mix, and baking soda until just mixed. Stir in sprinkles.
4. Spread batter evenly into greased pan.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes until top is lightly browned and middle still jiggles slightly. Cool completely before cutting.

Nutella Stuffed French Toast

No real recipe here, just awesomeness. Make a nutella sandwich, dip it in an egg/vanilla/sugar mixture, and cook it on a greased pan over medium heat for a couple of minutes. It's a perfect Sunday morning treat!

La Comida Parte 2

Did you think I was done? Of course not! I told you Pinterest has revolutionized my cooking life. :-)

Beef Stroganoff
This didn't taste like traditional beef stroganoff to me, but I still thought it was really good!

2 lbs. stew meat (okay, I used like 1.2)
2 cans Golden Mushroom soup (yup, I used one Golden and one regular)
1 diced onion
Splash of Worscestershire sauce
1/2 c. water
8 oz. cream cheese
1 T garlic salt
egg noodles

Put all ingredients in the slow cooker except cream cheese and egg noodles. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Add cream cheese 30 minutes prior to serving. Cook and serve egg noodles with stroganoff. 


Black Bean Brownies
I know, they sound gross, right? But they actually are surprisingly normal tasting/feeling. The beans just make the chocolate taste even darker... yum!

1 can black beans
3 Tbsp. oil
1/2 c. cocoa
4 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

Drain and rinse beans. Put beans into a food processor to puree. Add in other ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Pour mixture into a greased 9x9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. You may wish to top with extra chocolate chips (who could blame you?) 


Slow Cooker Maple Chicken
It sounds a little weird, but I thought this was really good, and even Eric agreed that it took him by surprise. It would be especially delicious in the fall. :-) 

2-3 chicken breasts or thighs
salt and pepper
3-4 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
2-3 medium sweet potatoes, cubed
8 oz. baby carrots
1 small red onion

Put chicken and veggies in slow cooker. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and maple syrup. Let cook for 4-6 hours. 


Peanut Butter Dip

1/2 c. yogurt (vanilla or strawberry-banana)
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/4 c. powdered sugar
fruit for dipping

Mix first three ingredients together. Then dip that fruit!


Ranch Pork Chops
These were okay... it's not a new fave or anything, but if you're in a hurry,it's a quick 3-ingredient slow cooker meal, and you can't go wrong with that!

1-2 lbs pork (chops, ribs, loin, etc.)
1 package ranch dressing mix
2 cans cream of chicken or mushroom soup
3 Tbsp. water

Put all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. 


Strawberry Yogurt Cake
I would just like to preface this by saying that I LOVE fresh fruit, but all too often, we don't eat it all before it goes bad. It's sad and it's wasteful. So when I bought a big box of strawberries this week, I figured this recipe was the perfect way to use half of them up to ensure we make the most of our purchase... that means strawberry cake=economical, right? (I only made a half-batch).

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 Tbsp. lemon juice  (or orange)
Zest of 1 lemon (I used an orange)
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
8 oz. plain or vanilla Greek yogurt
12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a bundt pan (or a nice 8x8 if you're halving it). Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and lemon zest and set aside. In a large bowl, mix butte rand sugar until creamy. Add in eggs one at a time, then stir in lemon juice. Alternate adding flour mixture and Greek yogurt. Fold strawberries into mixture and stir gently. Pour batter into bundt pan and bake for 60 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes before removing from pan.

Sustenance.

I love food. I love eating it. I love cooking it. Most recently, I love growing it. I love trying new things and finding new ways to use old ingredients. It's fun, it's practical, and did I mention it's delicious? 

So you can imagine what a love affair I have with Pinterest. It's basically rendered my blogging about food unnecessary.... almost. But who knows when the Pinterest world may crash? So, to be safe (and to make my own changes to these recipes :-) I will see how many fun things I can fit in one quick post. 

Chicken Tamale Casserole [Cooking Light]
This was SO GOOD! Similar to the Mexican Shepherds Pie I've made before, this has even more spiciness and zest. And, though I'm usually not a sour cream fan, I found it totally pulled this dish together. I can't wait to make it again!

1 c. Mexican cheese blend
1/3 c. milk
1 egg or 1/4 c. egg substitute
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper
1 can cream-style corn (I used frozen)
1 box corn muffin mix (I used Jiffy)
1 can Rotel
1 can red enchilada sauce
2 c. shredded cooked chicken breast
1/2 c. fat free sour cream

Preheat oven to 400. Combine cheese and next 7 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until just moist. Pour into a coated 13x9 dish. Bake for 15 minutes or until set. Pierce entire surface with a fork. Pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken and additional cheese. Bake for 15 more minutes. Remove from oven and top with sour cream.


Feta Dip
Eric and I agreed: this tastes like an awesome pizza. I actually ate it for dinner one night. A definite keeper!

Olive oil
1 block or container of feta cheese
tomatoes (any kind!) to taste, diced
1 bunch green onions
1 baguette, sliced
Greek Seasoning (Cavenders!)

Pour olive oil on a plate or platter until it just covers the surface. Dice green onions and tomatoes and throw them on the olive oil. Add feta. Pour Greek seasoning over the entire dish. Mix gently. Serve with fresh-cut baguette slices. 

Protein Smoothie

1 almost-frozen banana (I actually froze mine, and it turns out that doesn't work so well!)

3 oz. Greek vanilla yogurt (about 1/2 small container)

1/4 c. milk

2 Tbsp. peanut butter

Mix ingredients together in a blender. This should keep you full all morning!!

Greek Chicken Wraps

I've made these two or three times already. They turn out a little different every time, but are always de-lish!

Tzatziki sauce:
1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 regular cucumber, peeled and seeded
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar (I used red - it was fine)
Salt and pepper
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil

For the chicken:
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Juice of 1 lemon (2-3 Tablespoons)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 heaping Tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper
1 1/4 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Tortillas or Pita Bread

Directions:
Shred the cucumber or chop in food processor. Wrap in a towel a squeeze to remove as much water as possible. Mix together the yogurt, shredded cucumber, garlic, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice. Drizzle lightly with olive oil.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld.

To prepare the chicken, combine the garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, yogurt, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Whisk together until mixed well. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and mix well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Cook the chicken as desired, either in the skillet or with the broiler. Once the chicken is completely cooked through, transfer to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Cut into strips. Heat pitas. Top with chicken, tzatziki sauce, diced tomatoes and any other ingredient you desire. Serve immediately.