Strong Start and Finish

It's the weekend!!  Whoohoo!!  Well, technically now it is over halfway through the weekend.  Funny how these two day go SO fast, but the rest of the week seems to take so long!

I've been remiss in posting the last several days, and I will try to get back on the blogging bandwagon every night.  Last night was not so much that I didn't want to post, but that I was disappointed in the days results.  Let me start from the beginning...

I started off incredibly strong yesterday morning.  I decided I would make a breakfast casserole to take to work, since I do have some pretty fantastic co-workers, and they have been pretty great about keeping me motivated.  Back before Christmas, I had found a recipe from one of my Pampered Chef cookbooks for a breakfast braid that I had made for my family (Doobs and Pops included) and they LOVED it.  I made it when my sister came back for Christmas too, and then again for our church men one Saturday morning for a Men in Mission meeting.  I've altered the recipe, since I'm not a huge fan of asparagus.  I add more eggs, browned sausage, green peppers, and mushrooms.  You can really add or delete any veggie/meat you want, which makes this nice.  So, this is what my braid looked like yesterday morning:

And a cross-section view:

Things went downhill rapidly from here, though.  In my focus on getting my breakfast to work, I left my lunch in the refrigerator at home.  As a result, I bought my lunch yesterday.  I didn't feel horrible about it, though. After all, it was Friday, I struggled through a whole week of crappy lunches, and I had just made an amazing breakfast. One lunch is not the end of the challenge.  It's not winning the challenge by any means, but it's not the end of the challenge...

Then I went home and made frozen pizzas for dinner.  Friday=1, Ericson=0.

Thank goodness for a new day.

Saturday morning was breakfast on the go for the kids in the form of the ultra nutritious Pop Tart.  (please reread last line with intended sarcasm.)  Of course we were running late for our hair appointments in Topeka, so of course I didn't have time to make breakfast.  That would require planning ahead, which I am obviously not doing well.

Saturday morning hair appointments have actually become a monthly outing for myself, Doobs (my mom), and my kids.  We go get our hair cut, have lunch, and do a little light shopping.  Its a day I look forward to every month.   Today Pops got to go with us, and they bought mine and my kids lunch at Red Lobster.  Thanks you guys!  Love you! :)

Tonight, Aaron and Brooke, some of our best friends, came over with their kids to spend the evening with us.

Aren't they adorable?  They are our dinner theater partners, too.  We're going to try to get together more often, and take turns hosting  "night ins".  Plus, they are board game nerds like us so that's an added bonus, as well.  Especially when we play really nerdy games from 1990 like we did tonight.

So, jumping back on the bandwagon and finishing the night out strong, I made a Broccoli/Cauliflower/Brussels Sprouts Au Gratin side dish (seriously, you want this recipe...obviously I added the broccoli to it as well), some fried red potatoes, and some pork chops marinated in a little olive oil and soy sauce.  Chris also de-glazed the pan with some red wine and made a FANTASTIC reduction to use as a sauce to the chops.

Since I was now back on my super fab cooking vibe, I decided I would try my first ever Bundt cake. (totally bought a new Bundt pan today that I found today on sale, so that's where the inspiration came from).  I searched and searched for a recipe that sounded both: a.) delicious and b.) only contained the ingredients I had in the house.  This recipe fit the bill.  I also used this super easy recipe for a chocolate ganache that I poured over the top.  The cake was SO rich...and SO tasty!  I will definitely make this again!

I claim today as a success. Ericson=1, Saturday=One fantastic day.  Let's hope tomorrow brings as much success, as well as some great planning for the week ahead!