Parents are coming over!

So I'm making desserts and coffee.

This recipe is just one point per serving! It is a Weight Watchers recipe and absolutely delicious.

Lemon tarlets:
1 package of mini-phyllo dough tarts (15)
1/3 cup of lemon curd
2 tbsp white chocolate chips
1 large egg yolk
Dash of cream of tartar
2 tbsp sugar

1) Bake phyllo dough for about 3 min. at 350.
2) Microwave the lemon curd and white chocolate for about 45 sec.
3) Stir the mixture and spoon into the phyllo dough.
4) Beat egg and cream of tartar on high until foamy.
5) Beat in sugar one tbsp at a time and beat until stiff peaks appear.
6) Spoon mixture onto the tops of the tarts.
7) Bake until the meringue is golden brown (about 13 minutes).

I wish I could say that WW is going well...I am totally sticking to the program, but I am losing weight really slowly! I have been exercising a lot so I'm hoping that has something to do with it. Oh well..

There are only 8 more days of school left!

And...I just sent in my passport application. I had to get it renewed because, you know, I got muuurried. At this point, Joel and I are seriously planning a trip to Turkey! We are SO excited.

When you can't travel quite yet, you find other ways to satisfy the bug...

For me, this means lots of trips to Whole Foods. Our meals today:

Lunch:
Panko crusted tilapia with a potato casserole (with yucca, purple potatoes, olives, a yams)-made by my awesome brother. It was his take on a Peruvian dish (papa a la huancaina). This was waaay too many points but delicious.
This isn't what our dish looked like, but you've got to try the real thing. It's amazing.






















Our dinner was amazing (and only 6 points!)

Chicken and Coconut Curry





















Chicken, light coconut milk, Thai red curry paste, red peppers, scallions, carrots, coriander and cumin....mmm.....delicious!

Joel is currently enjoying Manchego cheese (from Spain...I convinced him to buy it) and bread. He didn't love the curry so much.











For now, it's making me not as heartsick. I'm not trying to be dramatic but I might cry for months if we don't go somewhere soon. Kidding. I had no intentions of eating such pretentious food today, but don't worry. Tomorrow we'll be back to our normal American fare. For today, however, I'll allow myself this bit of snobbishness.

ce' magnifique

Dreaming...

There are no words to describe the ache I feel when I think about Santiago de Compostela. I feel like I left part of my heart there, as cheesy as that sounds. It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

Joel feels this way about Istanbul. We are making it a serious goal to travel to both of these places very soon, before kids, before being tied down to anything. We talk about traveling all the time. It's so close I can taste it. Even if Spain is not in our future, I can't wait to see this place that Joel feel in love with three years ago. I know I'm being emotional about this, and that seems ridiculous, but I will scrimp and save as long as needed so we can actually go somewhere.

Below are pictures of mi patria de alma.

Ways to waste time...

Yes, Joel and I spent much of our evening plugged into our respective laptops, but we were sharing oldies but goodies from youtube.

Here are two that are fabulous. Enjoy.

Toto-"Africa"


Matthew Wilder-"Break My Stride"


In my class, I have been using these air quotation marks and, as a side bar, tried to teach my kids what they mean. Yesterday, I was teaching about the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela (mi patria de alma) and how not all pilgrims came on the Mayflower. One boy tried desperately to use those air quotes correctly, saying, "They're like 'pilgrims'." Maybe it's not that funny typed (I realize that now) but it was akin to this moment:

Friends, "I'm Sorry"

Things I am over:

1) EOG testing. It ended yesterday, and I am glad for that.
2) This "decade" of weight. I am ready to move down now! Any second now!
3) Straight up drama in my classroom. I've really over it.

Por ejemplo:
A girl in my class has recently had a lot of trouble being respectful. She is trying her very best to call me out on anything I do that she seems to not like. It's ridiculous, but a little comical. Case in point:
Yesterday, she had a big ol' chip on her shoulder. I passed out our reading activity for the day. When she got her paper, she smacked her lips, shot her hand up, and said, "Mrs. Orr! My paper got copied upside down!" I just sort of stared at her, utterly speechless. She, still slightly defiant, didn't understand why I quietly asked her, "What?"


And then, she turned her paper around.


And it was one of those moments where I could have said, "OK NOW do you realize that you're not always right? NOW are we clear on who is in charge here?" But instead, I just laughed and winked at her.

But I'm not a better person for that, because here I am blogging about it.

A Sunday evening alone means...

Cooking ahead for the week!

This week, ground turkey was my main ingredient so here are three recipes that I made in about an hour.

Recipe the first:

Turkey Won Tons

1 pound lean ground turkey
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
30 won ton wrappers
Nonstick cooking spray
Water

Cook turkey and onion in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain turkey in a colander then return to the skillet. Add currants and next six ingredients and stir well. Mix cornstarch and water and add to turkey mixture and continue cooking over medium heat for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.

Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Spoon 1 tablespoons turkey mixture onto the center of a won ton wrapper. Dip your finger in the water and wet the sides of the won ton wrapper. Fold two corners together to create a triangle. Gently press sides together. Place triangles on a baking sheet. Continue with remaining ingredients. Lightly spray tops of triangles with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

I made a bunch of these, and I figured they are about 1 point each, and they are DELICIOUS!

Recipe the second:

I took the turkey mixture above (I had a lot left over) and mixed with a bit of egg white. I put them into muffin tins for mini-meatloaves. Not sure if they will be good. I'm worried about them.

Recipe the third:

Breakfast muffins (thanks Christie!)
These are super easy.
3/4 lb of turkey breakfast sausage
1/4 cup shredded cheese
3 eggs
2 egg whites
Reduced fat crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a muffin tin. Brown the sausage and cut into small pieces. Mix eggs, cheese and sausage in a bowl. Press crescent rolls into the bottom of a muffin tin. Pour mixture on top. Bake for like...15 minutes. Delicious.

These are 3.5 points each.

I walked around Lake Lynn today and saw lots of baby turtles and ducks and it is so fun that it's SPRING! I also finally planted 4 plants in pots this afternoon! Let's hope I don't kill them.

More Sunday Sweets...from Saturday

I think when I got married, I envisioned having days like yesterday.

Joel and I went to the gym (separately) but met up at the park near our house. We shot baskets (well, Joel shot baskets. I laid down on the court and got some sun.) Then we took a walk! This may not sound exciting, but it's been months since we've been able to take a walk together. I am SO thankful that his knee is better. We always have our best conversations when we're running or walking outside.

We cleaned our house (not fun, but necessary) and Joel was AWESOME and cleaned the bathroom. What a sweetie. That's like the same as flowers for me.

We went grocery shopping at Whole Foods (a splurge).

Then we saw Star Trek, which was a really good movie. I'm not going to lie. I was thoroughly entertained.

We bought Mother's Day presents at the mall and went home to eat our Whole Foods dinner of pita, mozzarella, salad, and wine.

One thing we struggle with is having quiet times together. It seems like we can always fill our time with something else, but we've tried recently to read the Bible together more often. We knew going into marriage that we can have quiet times alone, but setting aside time together for this is something we have to do intentionally. We read Proverbs yesterday and I loved learning from him.

Anyway, it was a perfect day.

I got to have lunch with my mom today. Happy Mother's Day to moms out there! You are fabulous!

Sunday sweets

With a lot of anxiety about my dad, school ending, and my job next year, I'm thankful for:

-Babysitting last night. I got to watch the Kentucky Derby with the parents (they were running late) and get paid for it. The girls were freaking adorable. Por ejemplo: Ellie (the youngest) was looking at her baby doll in her pretend stroller saying, "OOOOH, she's just ABEARable!" I kept trying to tell her it was "adorable" but she would hear nothing of it. When I put Hallie to bed, she prayed, "Thank you, Jesus, for our house and our toothpaste and our toothbrush and our eyes and nose. Amen."

-Joel and I had a devotion together on our new lawn chairs on the deck. The honeysuckle is in bloom and it was lovely.

-I have discovered a love of grapefruit.

-I lost 3 pounds this week!

-I went to visit my dad and had lunch with my mom and brother.

-I made a strawberry pie. I'm looking forward to fried green tomatoes and chutney from the farmers market tomorrow, courtesy of the hubs.

-We're about to go to small group. I'm going to visit my dad after.

-Joel is planning something for our anniversary in 3 months. Holy cannoli, I can't wait to find out what it is!

Health news

I realized this week that the big things in my week all revolve around health issues, thus the post title.
1) Joel is off his crutches! We are both extremely excited that he's able to do things like cook dinner, go shopping, and do laundry with more ease. Ok, maybe I'm the one that's most excited ;) Really though, he's able to do more now, although his knee is still really stiff and it's been a while since he's worked those muscles. But it's only a matter of time before we're running at the lake again!

2) WW is going well. This week seemed better. I split up my flex points throughout the week, which made things more manageable. I have still been working out, although I took the last couple of days off...oops! I fell asleep twice this week while watching tv, which is rare. Sometime I'm not so good at sleeping a full 8 hours.

3) My dad is having some health problems. Without going into details, please pray. It's been stressful on our family. Just pray for peace, especially for my mom, and recovery for him.