Zucchini Boats & a Game of Pretend

I don't really like it when the New Year starts midweek; it doesn't make sense to me. And with the kids starting school today - January 6 really seems like it should be the first of the year. So we will pretend it is. And because today all of us are back to our daily grind, I did my grocery shopping yesterday, worked on some laundry and also updated my 2014 calendars.

As far as grocery shopping goes, I made sure to buy as much healthful stuff as possible. I did some meal planning and found a zucchini dish that sounds quite good. The original recipe s from SkinnyTaste.com.

Picture via SkinnyTaste.com

I don't know how I feel about adding marinara sauce to the boats... so after I make dinner tonight, I will come in and update this post. The above picture is from Skinny Taste, but it's a quick & dirty view on how the boats are made.

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Okay, so the night has passed and my dinner was a success. I did end up using some marinara sauce. My  meat was a half and half ground turkey and ground Italian sausage. Once the meat was nearly brown,  I added yellow, orange AND red peppers into the mix, along with the scooped out zucchini. I also added garlic, oregano, and salt & pepper to taste. I boiled the zucchini for 3 minutes, took them out and put them in a 13x9 pan (two pans, rather - I made a lot!). I actually added my marinara to the bottom of the boat, then added in the meet and veggie mixture... and then on top of that I added the shredded mozzarella cheese. I covered both pans and then put them in the oven for 30  minutes at 350 degrees.

 
I had some left over Spanish Rice that I served my boats with. It was DELISH!!

Something you HAVE to try! I will definitely be visiting Skinny Taste again for healthy meal ideas!

P.S. See that yellow fox on *my* first picture?! That just means that picture/topic this relates to my One Little Word for 2014. :D

31 days of capturing beautiful Arizona | Day 2

I thought I really messed this 31 days up... but then, I said to myself... "Self... who said the 31 days had to be sequential?"

Good point, lady.

I bring you Day 2. A lovely shot from just outside of Flagstaff, Arizona.

First Road Trip of 2014 [Jerome, Arizona]

I know I wrote a similar post back in the day -  maybe for 2009? Either way, I am very excited to announce that yesterday... we got away!

We decided to head 2.5 hours NW to Jerome, Arizona and from there up north a little more to Flagstaff. This time around, Alex wasn't able to join us; he had to work. Bummer. But let me tell you, Isabel and Nico were on their very best behavior (thank you Mr. Steve Jobs) and we had a blast.

Personally, Jerome was a little more artsy-fartsy than I normally like... I was really missing the history of the place. I wanted more ghosts, less sculptures. But, it is a beautiful town with great crumbling buildings.

After Jerome, we headed out to dinner in Flagstaff. And on the outskirts, we found leftover snow. It's been years since we took the kids to play during the winter. Shame on us. I think we've decided to head up there just as soon as they get another snowfall. Nico was so hoping to build a snowman, but the snow was pretty hard and icy. They were able to make a few snowballs and throw them at each other.

We had dinner at one of our favorite places, albeit new to Flagstaff, Someburros (Mexican food - quick and delish!). We stayed there for well over an hour, just relaxing and eating all the free chips we could handle. After that, we may our way back down to the valley. And after a quick pitstop at Culvers for some frozen custard, we were back home in just over 3 hours.

I will say, for once I wasn't the one asking for all of the bathrooom breaks. Nico had us stop TWICE. I think he drank too much lemonade. :)

While we missed the heck out of Alex, we had a great time. We plan on doing a whole bunch more intra-state road trips this year!! Cheap & fun entertainment! 1 tank of gas and a dinner for 4... not bad! :)