O hello again!

SOOO much has happened since I last blogged!! I will catch you up later but first...some new photos!

Introducing.....

So I guess it's time to introduce you all to Dennis. ----------->
Dennis is my new dance partner, and he is an absolutely fabulous and beautiful dancer! This weekend I went to Birmingham (where he lives) for our rehearsal, and got to meet his beautiful wife and kids...oh and the dogs..can't forget them!! We definitely give each other a run for our time. When I first met him, he told me that he loves to practice, so that made me very happy because I REALLY love to practice....and then when we had our first rehearsal...Oh my gosh...when you put two people together who love to practice...it never ends...and I leave barely able to walk out the door!! I complain to Britt FOREVER about being sore..but really it's great, and considering that we only get to practice 2 or 3 days a week because we live in different places, our practicing addictions work to our benefit! Things are shaping up very quickly, and I am very excited!!!

Cilantro lime Mexican Lasagna

So I tried a new dish last night.... Mexican Lasagna and my version is the Cilantro Lime Mexican Lasagna. I tweaked a few things here and there to make this a little more healthy. The original recipe calls for ground pork and I used lean white turkey, I also used black beans in place of hominy, and I used Flatout Healthy Grain flatbread wraps instead of the traditional tortilla. This took some of the fat out(turkey), added more protein(black beans), and cut down on calories and unhealthy carbs( multi grain flatbread).

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, grated or chopped
• 2 jalapeno or serrano peppers, chopped- 3 or 4 for a little more heat
  
• 12 large tomatillos (14 to 16 if small), peeled (the leafy peel) and coarsely chopped
• A handful cilantro leaves- parsley leaves can be used if you are not a fan of cilantro
  
• 3 avocados
• 2 limes
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 package large tortillas
• 1 pound pepper Jack cheese, shredded
• Sour cream, to pass at table

Directions

Place rack in oven in middle of oven and heat broiler or place oven on 400 degrees F.

Heat 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan, in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add turkey and crumble up as it browns. While turkey browns, season the meat with cumin, coriander and salt and pepper. Once browned evenly, stir in black beans and reduce heat to simmer.

While meat cooks heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a sauce pot, add onions, garlic and peppers, season with salt and pepper and saute until softened 5 to 6 minutes. Place tomatillos and cilantro or parsley in food processor and process until almost smooth. Pour into onion and garlic mixture and simmer to mellow, 5 to 6 minutes more. Replace the processor bowl. Pit and scoop the avocado flesh into the processor, add the lime zest and juice- careful it can get strong. Add the honey, puree until smooth and season with a little salt. Stir the avocado mixture into the green sauce and remove from heat.

Char all of the tortillas over an open flame or in dry hot skillet.This is important!!! If you don't do this the tortillas will get a little more soggy!

In a baking dish layer sauce, tortilla, meat, cheese, sauce, tortilla, meat, cheese, sauce, etc. End with a layer of tortilla, sauce and finally cheese. Place baking dish in the oven and bake for 4 to 5 minutes until bubbly and cheese is brown. Pass sour cream at the table.

I really loved this dish! I am a huge fan of lime and cilantro. NOTE: add avocado and honey and let the tomatillos cook longer to mellow out the tartness of the tomatillos! For a thicker and dryer lasagna use more meat and beans!!

A third great LOVE

#1- my personal hottie (britt)
#2- dancing
and drum roll please........

#3 cooking!!!!!!!

I REALLY REALLY love to cook. I mean REALLY! I started doing my own cooking pretty young. When I got married, I started cooking ALL the time...like tons! I would come home from work and start cooking not ever realizing just how relaxing it is for me. I love to create things and this is just one more avenue for me to do that. I like to get ideas from other recipes and then create my own versions or just give it a total makeover altogether! I also enjoy doing things for people...ok more like pleasing people, so I feel like I can do that by cooking. Since I now have DVR, I have started watching a ton of food network...which I love and is even more amazing on my 42" HDTV. The other day I was watching it and I caught myself thinking..." I could really do this for a living and really love it!" Of course having my own show would be ultimate cause I could still be an entertainment personality and a cook, but I think it would be SOOO fun to even just do catering or go to culinary school and become a top chef. If I had lots of time and money I would do just that...I would spend half of my day learning to cook and cooking and the other half training for dance and dancing....WHAT A BLAST that would be! So be looking for my recipe and experiment postings and updates!!

The adventures of Britt

So Britt has started a new hobby...rock climbing or as he sometimes refers to it....poling...don't ask. He was inspired to start this new hobby by his sister, Amber, who picked up the hobby in DC. Britt thought it would be a great thing he could do with his lil' sis' and fun for himself as well. He's gotten pretty good now, climbing 5.10's and 5.11's....that's the difficulty measurement. You have to be able to climb a 5.12 before you can do what they call lead climb. Lead climbing is where you are the first one up...that means there's no rope from the top that you are connected to...you start climbing and hook in as you go. I get woozy just thinking of it!! So anyhow it has been quite amusing for the past few months. Each time he comes home from a climb we have show and tell...hehehe. First he "tells" me how he conquered the next level or how he "flashed" the wall that was hard last time ( flashed is where you climb right up to the top fairly quickly without hesitation) ; I also get to hear all the weird stories about the "interesting" people at the rock climbing gym. Then it's "show" time as he will proceed to show me his veiny arms and rock hard forarms. It kinda makes me chuckle cause it reminds me of my little brother a bit when he first started lifting weights and stuff(the excitement that is...not the size of the muscles of course) but I'm SOO excited and proud of his progress. AND he's started taking the yoga and abs classes that they offer at the climbing gym. Now I swear by yoga as a GREAT stress reliever!!! He is taking his first climbing trip into the "wild" the first weekend of April. He, one of his climbing buddies here, Amber, and some of her climbing friends and instructors are all going to Red River Gorge which is apparently one of the best places to climb in the States. I'm a little nervous to be honest...but at least I don't have to climb those walls....just a TAD high for me!! I'll keep you posted on his progress and the trips...hope to get some pics up soon!!

sweet peace of closure

And a HUGE sigh of relief! A burden lifted, bitterness turned sweet, and the black yuckyness in my heart and spirit now cleared and replaced with peace. Closure. Open honesty. Candid, blunt, up front, forward..whatever you want to call it; it is SO key in SO many things! Why do we mask things under ambiguity or "sugar" ? I don't get it, and I never have. It clouds communication, and as we have ALL heard time and time again.."communication is key". We hear it all the time about making marriages work, but it isn't just marriages. That holds true for all relationships from friendships to business relationships. When communication is clouded it complicates things by bringing ambiguity in the picture. When ambiguity makes it's way in, as humans we start to assume to make up for the lack of clarity. And assuming, as we all have experienced, is almost NEVER good or fruitfull. Why can't we all just be clear, open, and honest all the time?

Sometimes I think people have this idea that they don't want to deal with confrontation, so they create a distance in a realtionship. This IS a block in the communication line and creates ambiguity(which we've established is BAD). This is actually what WILL lead to a VERY confrontational situation which is what they were running from in the first place. So again being upfront, open, and honest from the get go is the solution.

I also think that sometimes people are too concerned with offending others. Well I think that you can't offend; people CHOOSE to take offense. I'm not saying to be rude to people. There is a difference in being up front and honest and being down right rude. Rudeness is created by adding poor attitude to your words.

Communicate and do so clearly, openly, and honestly.

This is another one of those things that ties to dancing. If the communication lines (your frame or center) is broken or blocked there is no clarity and assumption begins...ahhh disaster!!

House Hunting

So it has FINALLY come!!! Britt and I are officially looking for our first home. We actually went and looked at some open houses for the first time this weekend. We looked at 4 houses, and I could easily see us living in 3 of the 4. This is gonna be harder than I thought. There are SOO many things to think about and make decisions about...yeah that's right the D word...decisions. I can't even make up my mind at a drive through window. How will I ever make up my mind? So we really don't need all that big of a house...I mean it's just Britt and me. Even if we suddenly popped out a kid...don't get any ideas anyone...that was NOT a hint...we still wouldn't need a lot of room for a while. BUT it is such a great buyer's market right now, we could get a bigger house and probably end up with more equity once the market goes up..... What do I do?? And when I say bigger, I don't mean huge. Like this weekend we looked at a house that was 1365 sq. ft. and one that was 1750 sq. ft. neither of them are HUGE but the 1700+ house was way more than we really even need. All of them have been updated so they didn't need much but the one that was only 1300+ sq. ft. had been totally gutted and had granite counter tops, all new stainless steel sppliances, the really nice expensive carpet, tile, very high quality fixtures ( water fixtures, light fixtures, door knobs and such) I mean it was decked out. BUT it doesn't have a garage and would need a fence in the back yard..well we would like one anyway. The other two we liked had a garage and didn't really need any updates either.....I dunno!!!! All of them however were in newer subdivisions, so they dont' have the charm of the mature subdivisions and we really do love charm..haha..hmmm. So the hunt begins.........