Maggiano's

$30 gift card to Maggiano's (thanks to Grandma Trish and Grandpa Jim) + $10 coupon + 1 delicious appetizer + 2 delicious-barely-made-a-dent-in-it-because-we-were-so-full-entrees + 1 mini creme brulee + Andrew = Priceless date night with my favorite husband (+$14).

Thank heavens for coupons, gift cards, husbands, and the weekend!

February update

I'm trying to procrastinate anything school related right now b/c I'm pretty brain-dead.
Dec-Feb update:

We had a great time in Utah visiting with Andrew's family. It was so nice to be able to relax and spend time with family and see friends.
Here are some pictures:
(can't figure out how to organize them and type under them. so one of the pictures is with the terry's, we sure do love them and penny! one is with my awesome neices, my adorable nephew, skiing for a day (our Christmas present from the inlaws), a party with some good friends, Andrew's 92-93 year old nana (she got a bra for christmas), georgetown/american basketball game, and a pic of alll my nieces and nephews. it was a great vacation.


As for school. It's a good semester. I'm pretty sure, as of now my future interest is working on a mother/baby unit or the NICU. I am loving my clinical. I have had some really neat experiences.

Hello Strangers!!

Let's not waste time talking about how I'm a terrible blogger and that all of you are so sick of seeing my white chicken chili and guiltless alfredo sauce.

Update:

I just finished my first semester at Georgetown University. It was really crazy busy/hard but I did love it (most of it). It is kind of fun being back in school mode and learning so much. Let's just say GU is def not BYU, I really do miss BYU. But I have made some good friends! I'm so grateful I meat some wonderful people. There are 50 of us in the program (with only around 5 boys). We are all type A personalities and the average age is around 26-27. I've actually had to learn how to back off and not freak out so much because I see how annoying it is and I just can't feed off of other people's anxiety. I do have a husband to come home to that would appreciate a happy/stress free wife.

Anyway, I graduate in December 2012!! (just 1 year away!!) I already have a job lined up at Washington Hospital Center (WHC) , through a scholarship program. they're paying for 80% of my tuition if I work for them for 3 years, which means I have a guaranteed job at the #1 hospital in the region! P.s. I would like to say BYU is a steal tuition wise, schools are NOT CHEAP here.

We started clinicals the 3rd week into school, which means I was with patients. Boy, I have had some awesome experiences. I had some patients who did not care for my help, which was fine. I had other patients who thoroughly enjoyed my presence and my help. Let me just say that the Word of Wisdom is truly the way to live. Don't smoke, don't drink alcohol or coffee, eat in moderation, and exercise and sleep. If you do these things, you will be healthy! (for the most part, unfortunately other health issues come about regardless of how health you are). Next semester I will be working on the Mother/Baby floor. SOOO excited!!


Andrew is going to grad school part time at American University for a master's in Public Policy. He enjoys it and is doing well!! He also has another internship and is in the process of looking for a job.

We love the east coast and the new friends we have made but we sure do miss all our other friends!! It's hard to find couple friends out here.

We will be in Utah over Christmas break and are looking forward to catching up with family and friends!

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce!

Last night I tried making this guiltless alfredo sauce. i put it over fettucine and cut up chicken. It was wonderful and easy!!! Check out the recipe here:

White Chicken Chili

I have been in a soup-making mood. This white chicken chili is so good. I got the recipe from a girl i visit teach but I kind of changed some of it and made it into my own recipe. I made it for a group of friends this past weekend and there were no leftovers!

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• Around 5 or 6 chicken tenders (shred them after cooked)
• 1/2 of an onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cans great northern beans, rinsed except for one can
• 1 can corn, rinsed
• around 1 C chicken broth (you can add more if you would like)
• 3 cans chopped green chilies
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, i did not use it)
• 2 cup sour cream ( i try to use low fat)
• 1 C milk OR 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (i prefer the milk b/c it's less fat)
• Directions

• In a large saucepan, saute the chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is cooked.
• In a soup pot add cooked chicken (i shred it at this point) with the beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
• Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and milk until warmed through

Pumpkin Delight!

For all the Halloween parties we attended/had I could not pass up making the notorious pumpkin crumble/cake/treat/delight. My college roommates and I would make this treat for each other's birthdays. What a treat it was to come home to the wonderful smell of pumpkin delight.

This is what is looks like pre-cooked.

People who do not even like pumpkin enjoy this dessert.

Here is the recipe:

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Grease 13 x 9 in pan

Yellow cake mix—remove one cup—set aside in separate bowl.

Bottom layer of cake:

In a large bowl—>

beat remaining cake mix,

½ cup melted butter (I usually do around 1/3 cup)

1 egg

—>press into pan as crust

Middle of cake:

Pumpkin—(1 lb. 13 oz--use LIbby's)

Mix pumpkin filling,

3 eggs,

1 cup sugar,

2/3 cup evaporated milk,

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Poor over crust

Topping:

Combine reserved cake mix with

½ cup sugar,

¼ cup melted butter

—>crumble over top of middle pumpkin part.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until golden brown on top

This cake is good warm and it is also very good cold. I like to cool it in the fridge and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Funny video about BYU Provo Girls

1 Year of Weddedness

September 25 was our 1 year anniversary. For our wedding, a family gave us a free stay at the Anniversary Inn. So, on Thursday night Andrew and I drove up to Logan to stay at the Anniversary Inn there. We obviously chose the most expensive room. Who wouldn't when you don't have to pay for it!

We stayed in La Hacienda. Oh it was gorgeous. It was the best day ever. It was a hugeee room with a hammock and a fountain and a bathtub with a plasma screen tv in front of it! We went to The Firehouse Pizzeria (one of my all time favorites) We went all out and ordered whatever we wanted. It felt good.

The next day we slept in and were just lazy until we had to check out at noon. Then we did a session at the Logan temple.

It was my favorite anniversary.

THen I got to see my favorite Laura!!!

Chicken Crescent Rolls

let's be realistic, I am not meant to be a blogger. I am a lot better looking at blogs than updating mine. But just because I am not good at something does not mean i will not do it.

So, here is a recipe I just tried tonight. I am into and trying to find simple recipes b/c working full time, church calling, trying to stay fit and being married (not in any particular order) kind of take up a lot of my time. Andrew and I really liked this recipe!! I mean we really liked it. It did not take long at all!

Here is the recipe for Chicken Crescent Rolls:

• 2 whole Chicken Breasts
• 1 can (8 Oz. Can) Crescent Rolls ( I used reduced fat ones)
• 1 cup Cheddar Cheese (or any other kind you want)
• 2 ounces Cream Cheese, softened (reduced fat)
• ¼ cups Diced White Onion ( optional, I didn't have any so i didn't use any!)
• 2 Tablespoons Milk
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• ¼ teaspoons Seasoned Salt
• Pepper To Taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil the chicken in water until fully cook, then take 2 forks and shred it.

Combine the cream cheese, onion, milk, 1 tablespoon of butter (softened), and seasoned salt and mix well. Add the chicken and shredded cheese and mix until chicken is well coated. Add pepper to taste.

Prepare the crescent rolls to make four squares. Fill each square with the chicken-cheese mixture. Bring all four corners together over chicken-cheese mixture and pinch until closed.

Melt the remaining 1 tablespoons of butter and spread over the crescents rolls.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown in a coated brownie pan.

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen, THe Pioneer Woman

I forgot to take a picture while I was making it and when it was done. So here are our leftovers in our cheap plastic container.

Poppyseed Chicken

As a lot of you already know, I love look at recipes and then try them. So, last night I decided to try this "Poppyseed Chicken" I did not want to cook an entire casserole of it (in case we did not like it) So i used a brownie sqaure pan instead. So i will put how much i used on the side in case you want to make yours small too.

5 cups chicken breasts, cooked and cubed I used about 8 chicken tenderloins

1 cup sour cream I used 1/2 C

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup I used 3/4 of one can

2 cups crushed Ritz crackers (about 1 1/2 rolls of crackers) i used 1/2 of a sleeve

1/2 cup melted butter i used 2 tbsp (i never use the amt of butter recipe calls for except in cookies. and all my things still taste good)

1 T poppy seed

Additional/Optional ingredients:

1 tsp Worchestire sauce

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp minced garlic

1 T lemon juice i added lemon juice and pepper

1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil raw chicken breasts with salt and pepper until done. I like to boil it with half an onion cut into large chunks to give it more flavor. Let chicken cool slightly and cut into one inch cubes. Place cubed chicken in a 9X13 casserole dish.

Stir together the condensed soup and sour cream. If you wish to add the additional flavorings stir in the worchestire, celery salt, garlic, lemon juice, and pepper to the soup and sour cream mixture. Pour over the chicken.

In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers, poppy seeds and melted butter. Sprinkle over the chicken and sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top of the casserole is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Serve plain or over rice. We like to eat it with steamed broccoli and we mix it all together.

I did not serve it over anything. We had green beans as a side dish. It turned out to be really good! Def a keeper.

i got this recipe from here.

We Tri

Triathlons. Triathlons are like drugs, they are addicting. Once you have done one, you keep going back to get that original high. But unlike drugs, triathlons are GOOD for you and you can always get that original high.

Now that Andrew and I are married and wanted to remain active, we decided to do one together.

So, a few weekends ago we drove down to beautiful St. George to compete in the St. George Tri.

First of all, St. George is so warm, it has palm trees, and it has red cliffs. I love it. We got there at dinner time but that morning I had made us a pasta dish. SO, we took our cooler to a park near the tabernacle and ate while watching the sunset and people. Then we picked up our packets and race numbers. While picking them up, we found out the water temperature was around 55-60 degrees. That's a pretty decent on the chily side for outside but that temperature to swim in is hypothermia temperature (no joke). So last minute, we rented a wetsuit for Andrew, his life was worth the $40 to me. Luckily, MaShay let me borrow hers (thanks MaShay).

We finally got to the Anjuli's house later that night. Her family was so nice to let us stay there, even when they had other guests (the guests were Meegan and Parker Mangum, we knew them from condo row, so it was a nice reunion).

We had to bike a mile in to actually get to the transition area so thats my wesuit underneath it all.

The race started later than every other triathlon i had done because of weather conditions (it tends to be really windy and the water temperature). ANyways, Andrew's heat started 20 minutes before mine. So I got to watch him swim and he actually finished his swim right as my heat was about to leave so we got to say hi then. We then saw each other on the bike and the run! It was so cool.

Sutton: 1:35:44 2nd in age group 20-24

Andrew: 1:34:51 21st in age group 25-29

We were both very happy with our results considering how little training we did (at least compared to when before I was married). It was so much fun!!

After the race we enjoyed some free food and seeing people I knew from the BYU Tri team.

After we cleaned up, we did a session at the St. George temple. It was beautiful!! Then we ate with the Tuscano family, some of the best enchiladas ever. Then we went to Dairy Queen! It's a tradition for me to go to Dairy Queen after a race that I plan to keep alive for the rest of my life.

Moral of the story: I love warm weather, triathlons, ice cream, the temple, and my husband.

Weddings

This weekend was filled with weddings!! Thursday night we went to Jordan Booth's reception. We saw a lot of people from BYU 61st ward. IT was a nice reunion! Then Friday night we went to Cierra's reception (a friend from work), she ended up marrying someone else from work. The food was amazing. Then Saturday morning we went back up to This Is The Place Park and saw Cierra and Ben's wedding. Luckily, it was a beautiful day outside. It was a small beautiful wedding. Then there was a luncheon that had a 3 course meal. It was very tasty.

The train that took us to the reception.

He is handsome

Then, Andrew and I drove to Provo to visit some of his old roommates. One of them just had a baby in January. He was very cute!

They matched.

He fell asleep in my arms. He liked me, and his bottle.

I got to see Megan Kings at her reception. She looked stunning and I can't believe we had not seen each other since we left the Dominican Republic! I do not know what I would have done without her and Missy. We had a blast!