Yum.

So no worries, the Hungary pictures are coming. But in the midst of the moving and working... well, they've kind of gotten pushed to the back burner.

But apparently baking hasn't. I came home today and felt the need, no, the compulsion to bake something CHOCOLATY (by the way, did you know that was spelled without an "e"? Because I did not until now. Huh.) So I googled chocolate cookies and found Paula Dean's recipe, tweaked it a bit, and voila! Deliciousness in 15 minutes. Okay, less, because I admittedly ate about as much dough as actual cookie.

Here's how the magic happened:

1 stick + 2 T. butter, softened

3/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1 T vanilla

1 c. flour

1/3 c. cocoa

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/4 bag chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and vanilla. Mix remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually mix into wet ingredients. Bake at 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

On another funny note (okay, maybe not to everyone, but it made me laugh), I was packing up our bookshelf tonight and found a folder of old English papers from college. I looked at one essay test from a comp class (you know the kind where they give you an hour to write 5 pages?), and, in my messy cursive, I had definitely written the following:

".... before the English gente tried to impose colonialism."

Yup. Gente is Spanish for people. Language confusion? I think so. Good job, college freshman Christie.

Amazingly, my English prof did not catch this. I guess sometimes using less-than-perfect handwriting pays off. :-)

Another adventure...

So tomorrow I will be departing on another exciting adventure, this time on a mission trip to Hungary without my other half. Even though I'm excited about the trip, I've been a little depressed about leaving Eric for 10 days. I know people who've had to deal with much worse, so I know I shouldn't complain; but we haven't been apart for more than 2 days since we've been married. It will fly by though, I'm sure!

The trip itself should be exciting. We'll be working in Nagykanizsa, Hungary, near the Croatian border, teaching English classes using the Bible. There's definitely a lot still up in the air as far as how everything will go, but I know it will work out. My going at all is totally a God thing!

You see, our church group read the book Radical by David Platt a few months ago (a very thought-provoking read!) It's all about missions, and one of the challenges at the end of the book is to sacrifice your time and money for the sake of the kingdom of God. One night right after I finished reading it, I was talking to my friend Lindsay about different types of mission trips we've been on/would like to go on. I told her I would really like to go on a trip where I got to teach English.

When I got home a few hours later, there was a message on my phone from my mom. Their church group was going on this trip to Hungary to teach English and they had an extra spot. Coincidence? I think not.

So now, five months later, here I am about to take off on a full day plus some hours of traveling. Please pray that we arrive safely, that my flight anxiety will stay at a minimum, and, of course, that the classes will go well!

On another note, we got to spend a lovely long weekend with Eric's family. It's so nice to get to see them! We miss living near our family, but it sure makes us appreciate the time we get to spend with them a lot more!

Also, while we have been eating out a ridiculous amount lately, I did manage to squeeze in another recipe last week. Remember those weird sausage and spinach turnovers I made a few weeks ago? Yeah, it turns out they are wayyyy better with beef! Just use half a pound of ground beef instead of italian sausage, and add a ton of mozzarella (okay, that kind of kills the healthiness, but it's sooo good!). Voila! A quick, delicious meal.

I also made my mexican shepherds pie again. Still delish! Seriously, you should try it. I even pre-made some for Eric to eat while I'm gone. It's in the freezer as we speak.

Anyway, that's all for now... stay tuned for Hungary pictures in about, oh, 12 days!

None but God can satisfy the longing of the immortal soul; as the heart was made for Him, He only can fill it. - Richard Trench

New House!

For those of you who haven't heard, Eric and I have finally found a cute little house to call home! After our apartments decided to go up on rent AGAIN, we decided to take the plunge and spend a little more on a house. This little gem is what we found. It was built in 1938 and sits in the historic district of town really close to the hospital.

We won't be moving into our lovely new place for another month, but we went by tonight to take another look, plan out where we are going to put everything, and make sure all of our curtains, furniture, etc. will fit. And of course I had to take a few pictures while I was there (in addition to the ones I'd already been sent).

So, for all of you wonderful readers, here's a sneak peak at our new home!

(Note: A lot of these pics I took tonight, and the house is kind of messy since the current tenants are getting ready to move. There's also some that were taken by the owner a couple of years ago mixed in. It will, of course, look way cuter once we're moved in there!!)

The front door leads directly into the living room. Kind of hard to get a good picture of...

Yay for fireplaces! Supposedly it works, we just have to get a cover for it.

Better (older) pic of the living room from the dining room. The paint is a light gray color now instead of red.

Our cute little kitchen. There's some weird spaces and the fridge leans a little bit (the house IS 73 years old)... but I LOVE the windowsills and the pretty blue backsplash!

It also has several cute shelves above the windows and doors. How fun is that?

There's also a little door in the kitchen that leads down to the basement/laundry area... It's all concrete and bleh, so I'll skip that part!

Guest Bedroom/office #1... sorry, no good pics of guest room/office #2.

Downstairs bathroom (above and below).

Stairs up to master suite. :-) All the "doorways" have cool shapes like this.

Built-in office area for Eric.

This part is my favorite! A shoe area + 2 closets!

Master bath (there's a shower hiding back behind there somewhere...)

Back of the house...

And our beautiful yard! Though all the yard work seems a little intimidating!

So there you have it: our new home. We will, of course, be posting to show the changes we've made. Stay tuned for more updates on la casa de Yates!

Yummy Eats

Two new meals in one week. Be impressed.

[Both taken from Woman's Day magazine]

Spaghetti with Roasted Zucchini

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Toss the pasta with 1 Tbsp of the oil. 2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the bread and garlic until the bread forms coarse crumbs and the garlic is chopped. 3. In a large bowl, toss the zucchini, red pepper, remaining 2 Tbsp oil and ½ tsp salt. Add the Parmesan and bread crumb mixture and toss to combine. Spread the zucchini mixture on 2 rimmed baking sheets and roast until the zucchini is tender and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. 4. Toss the pasta with the zucchini mixture, chicken, parsley and lemon zest.

Beef Stroganoff

Admittedly this one didn't turn out quite as well, but we decided it was because we both hate sour cream, and because I used fetuccine instead of egg noodles. Oops. We'll be trying it again though!

1. Cook the egg noodles according to package directions. 2. Meanwhile, heat 1 Tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the steak with 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper, and cook in 2 batches until browned, 1 minute per side; transfer to a plate. 3. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion, bell pepper and 1 Tbsp of the remaining oil and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, the remaining Tbsp oil, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, tossing, until the vegetables are tender, 4 to 5 minutes more. 4. Add the wine, if using, and simmer for 1 minute. Add the broth; simmer until slightly reduced, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in the sour cream, mustard and Worcestershire. Spoon over the noodles; sprinkle with the parsley, if using

• 6 oz egg noodles (half a 12-oz bag)
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb sirloin steak, thinly sliced (we used stew meat)
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 lb button mushrooms, sliced (optional - we skipped em')
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup lowfat sour cream (our take - leave it out!)
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Chopped parsley, for serving

• 12 oz. spaghetti
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 ces fresh bread, torn into 1-in. pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 small zucchini (about 1 lb total), sliced 1/4 in. thick
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (1 oz)
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 Tbsp grated lemon zest

2 chicken breasts, grilled and chopped into small pieces (we added this and it was de-lish!)

Did you think we disappeared?

Basically, we have.

Eric's 3rd year of medical school is in full swing, which means crazy shifts as he cycles through all the different specialties starting with Emergency Medicine and now working in different areas of OB/GYN. He'll start surgery the 20th of June... that's definitely enough to keep him busy!

This equals out to lots of free time for me, which I have filled up with a variety of activities like running, tutoring, Bible study, volunteering, singing with the church praise band, and just hanging out with friends as much as possible. Unfortunately, this has left me little time for other activities I enjoy like reading, blogging, and cleaning the house... (haha, okay, I can't say I really ENJOY that).

But summer is here, so maybe I can try to do better?

Here are a few things that have been going on lately:

- We took a quick trip to Charleston, SC, right after Eric took Step 1 at the end of March. It was really quaint and super-fun! We relaxed a lot, went to the beach (where we stayed QUITE chilly), and ate soooo much good food!

- I celebrated another birthday - woohoo! We ate at Carrabba's and Eric got me these pretty flowers and another season of How I Met Your Mother (our current favorite show).

- I helped throw a cute baby shower for my sweet friend Madeline (and I've attended about 5 more!)

- Eric I went on a nice hike up Hanging Rock on Easter weekend. Of course we forgot to take pictures again!

- My mom came to visit for Mother's Day, and we ate at lots of yummy restaurants and explored Old Salem. Of course Eric had to work. :(

- We got to go "home" to Arkansas the last weekend in May! Yay! Our friends David and Haleigh finally tied the knot, and we were so excited to get to be a part of their wedding, as well as visit with all of our old friends and family! We don't get to take those trips nearly enough!

And now we have summer to enjoy! Of course, it's not nearly as exciting as last summer, what with the going to Europe and all. But we do have a few short trips planned around here, and I will be going on a mission trip to Hungary in July (so the summer isn't entirely Europe-less)! Eric won't be bored, because he's spending the summer doing surgery... fun for him, but not fun for our schedule!

I suppose that by now you think that I've forgotten all about my cooking. While I admittedly have fallen a tad behind, I have been trying things out slowly but surely. And there is more on the menu for this month - so stay tuned!

I made this yummy Vegetable-Parmesan Risotto with some Lemon Pepper Chicken back in April.

It was good enough that I'm making it again this weekend!

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T olive oil

1 c. arborio rice

1/2 c. thinly sliced carrot

24 oz. vegetable or chicken broth

1 c. fresh spinach leaves, coarsely chopped

1 c. frozen baby peas

4-6 oz. parmesan cheese

1/3 c. thinly sliced green onions

1/4 c. thin radish wedges

1. In a saucepan, cook garlic in hot oil for 30 seconds. Add rice and cook for 5 minutes or until golden brown.

2. Remove from heat and stir in carrot. In a separate saucepan, bring broth to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. Stir 1 c. into rice mix. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until broth is absorbed, then add remainder of broth.

3. Stir in spinach peas, cheese, onions and radishes. Heat through until mixture is tender and creamy.

I also made some Slow Roasted Tomato Pasta from a recipe I found in a Cooking Light magazine. It still needs some tweaking (some more tomatoes to make it more saucy, and maybe some sugar to balance the tartness?), but it was good enough to try again for sure! (sorry, no pics for this one).

2 lbs. plum tomatoes, cored and halved

1/4 c. EVOO

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

6 garlic cloves, sliced

1/4 tsp. red pepper

12 oz. fettuccine

3/4 c. parmesan cheese

3 T. fresh basil

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees

2. Place tomatoes on jelly-roll pan; sprinkle with 2 T oil and 3/4 tsp. salt and black pepper. Bake for 4 hours.

3. Heat 2 T. oil and garlic over low heat and cook for 10 minutes. Combine garlic, tomatoes, and red pepper in pan.

4. Cook pasta and drain, reserving 3/4 c. cooking liquid. Increase heat to medium high under tomato mixture and stir in liquid. Bring to a boil and cook for 3-5 minutes. Pour over pasta and top with basil and cheese.

These Savory Sausage and Spinach Turnovers were okay, but we decided they would be much better with beef. I plan on trying that later this month too. I'll let you know how they turn out!

2/3 c. peeled potatoes, diced

1/3 c. diced red bell pepper

1/3 c. diced onion

2 links hot Italian sausage, casings removed (once again, consider using beef instead!)

2 c. washed baby spinach

2 T. fresh basil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 refrigerated pie crust dough

2 T. water

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Heat a skillet over medium high heat, coat with cooking spray, and add potatoes, bell pepper, and onion. Saute 4 minut
es.

3. Add sausage (beef), cook until brown, and then add spinach. Cook 2 more minutes, stir in basil, salt, and red pepper. Remove from heat.

4. Cut dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each section into a 5 inch circle. Spoon about 1/2 c. of the potato mixture onto one side of the circle, and fold over until the edges meet. Crimp edges together.

5. Place turnovers on a baking sheet and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

Success, Oh Yes!

Today is Eric's last day of studying! I couldn't be more thrilled. Unfortunately, he has still studied a lot today, like ever since we got home from church, so I had to spend one LAST day entertaining myself. And did I ever get a lot of stuff done!

~ Lunch: Did you think I completely forgot about trying out new recipes? Though my experiments have been few and far between these last few months, I managed to sneak in something new this afternoon.

(I should note that I have been putting off trying this particular recipe because Eric thought the name sounded gross. So I gave him time to forget about it, made it, and it was delicious. By the time I told him what it was, he was totally over the name.)

Famous Butter Chicken [sorry, no pictures for this one - definitely a winner though!]

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup crushed Ritz crackers

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 tsp. black pepper

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 c. butter, sliced into 1 tsp. pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place eggs and cracker crumbs in two separate shallow bowls. Mix seasonings with cracker crumbs. Dip chicken in the eggs, then dredge in cracker crumbs to coat.

Arrange chicken in a 9x13 baking dish and place butter around chicken. Bake for 20 minutes, spoon juices over chicken, and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

~ Shopping: I bought Eric's snacks for his test and planned what all he is going to take with him. I'm not really sure how he is going to consume all of this in an 8 hour period:

Grapes

Bananas

Dark chocolate almond peanut butter granola bars

6 bottles of water (okay, admittedly not all for him)

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (see below)

Turkey sandwich

White Cheddar Cheese-Its

Chocolate pudding

Regular chocolate chip granola bars ("just in case")

At least it's decently healthy stuff.

I also looked at new running shoes at Kohl's. There are definitely a few pairs I like, but I think I'm going to wait until I can go to a professional running store to get my arches checked and see how my feet pronate before I invest in more shoes. Still, it's fun to look.

~ Decorating the WALL: I have looked far and wide for some cute lettering that would look good on that thing.


Today, I finally found some. And paired with my fabric flowers, I think it turned out well! (I still have to do the liquid starch to get the flowers to stay - that's also why they look a little funky up there).

~ Making Jam: Thanks to a tip from my sweet friend Jamie Walton, I decided to go ahead and go for Harris Teeter's Buy One Get Two Free deal on strawberries this week and use one package to try my hand at strawberry jam. Who knew it could be so easy?

Strawberry Jam (Pectin-Free)

1 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled

1 1/2 c. white sugar

1/4 tsp. lemon juice

Puree strawberries in a blender, then mix in sugar and lemon juice.

In a heavy saucepan, warm over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Turn up the heat until mixture comes to a rolling boil.
Allow to cook for approximately 10 minutes, or until the mix reaches 220 degrees. Remove from heat and transfer to hot, sterile jars.

Note: To test if the jam is ready, put a cold plate in the freezer, then place a small spoonful of the warm mix on it for 1 minute. Once the jam has cooled, check the consistency.

~ Working Out: I finally got off my behind and did the first section of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred video. Thankfully, I'm in better shape than the last time I tried it, so it didn't kill me. I even went and did a mile on the treadmill afterwards, and set a personal record: 7:30.

~ Signing up for a 10K: I'll be running 6.2 miles on April 16. Let's hope I don't poop out!

~ Trying out Flax Seed: So I've read and read about how great flax seed is. It's basically just a ton of polyunsaturated fats, fiber and protein. Nobody has anything bad to say about it anywhere. So when I found some at Wal-Mart yesterday for less than $2.00, I decided I'd try it out.

For dinner tonight, I made myself a strawberry-orange smoothie with a special additive: Flax seed! I know, that sounds gross, right? But I totally couldn't even tell it was in there. It's so milled up, it just mixes right in. Instant protein boost!

I also finished up the evening making Eric's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with, you guessed it, flax seed added in.

I also cut a little bit of sugar out. You can't really taste the difference, so I figure every little bit helps!

So there's a successful day in a nutshell. Aren't Sunday afternoons the best? :-)

Opinions, please...

I really like our apartment, but there are some things you just can't do when you are renting. I took a little gamble with painting our little dining area, but there's no way I am going to paint the entire living room or kitchen when I know that I am going to have to paint it back before we move again. So, that being said, I have been generally satisfied with our decorations for the time being with one exception:

The WALL. It's white. It's ugly. It's just there, sitting above my kitchen counter with one lone, sad clock ticking away. I have racked my brain and shopped all around for something to put up there, but it's all been to no avail. It's just an awkward space.

I've been thinking for awhile about putting wall decals up, but haven't been able to find any that I like. Several people I know have made their own lately, so I thought that I would try my hand at it...

This is what I've come up with so far.

It's not great, but neither is my artistic ability, so I have to be realistic. I tried a branch. And then a swirly. Can you say "utter failure?"

There's some sort of disconnect between my brain and my hands that does not permit me to draw anything other than flowers, leaves, or cute bubble letters. And I'm pretty sure my cutting skills are about the equivalent to those of a first grader.

So, honestly - thoughts? I've just got everything taped up there right now so I can move it wherever I want. And, of course, I will eventually do the other side of the clock. Is it any good, though? Does it even help at all?

Also, I did cut out a flower with the thought that maybe I could combine the two. They're a lot more trouble and there's a lot more room for error with those though. Are they worth it?

Any opinions or advice would be more than welcome. :-)