Cooking...a work in a process

I spent most of today cooking. We have been so busy (and gone) lately that I haven't really cooked that much since we have been married. I made a delicious King Ranch Chicken Casserole (see above) right before we left. It was really good! And Jay went back for thirds...so I'd consider it a success. Note: I had to take pictures as evidence that I actually do cook!!!

I really do love to cook, but it just never seems to happen. Now that I have passed the CPA exam and no longer have to spend 4 hours a night studying, I have more time to spend in the kitchen AND tons of new toys to play with! :)

I have been flipping through the new cookbooks that I got for wedding presents and I have been looking at http://www.allrecipes.com/ for some new recipes to try. I highly reccomend this site. There are tons of easy good recipes (with pictures!) to try. It's even searchable.

I am trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and eat healthier in 2008 so I think cooking more often will help. Jay has night class 2 nights a week, but with my handy new grill pan, I can grill chicken and vegetables inside now (for one) so I can still cook for just me when he is gone instead of just heating up a Lean Cuisine.

We are having Jay's brother David and his sweet girlfriend Lucy over for dinner tomorrow night. Jay is going to grill out steaks, and I went ahead and made a salad and twice-baked potatoes for tomorrow night. With crudites and basil buttered french bread, it should be a good meal. I also made brownies for dessert (just a mix, but a good one...Gharadelli double chocolate chip) to serve a la mode. Entertaining is a lot more fun now that we live in a house and have all sorts of cool new serving pieces!

I need to work on cooking less elaborate dishes so I can cook for everyday. When I lived at home, I always fixed more complicated labor-intensive things like lasagna, crab cakes, and chicken parmesean. My parents have a huge kitchen with 2 ovens so it was a lot easier to prepare food. And lets not forget that my mom had all of these handy devices and every spice known to mankind! Now I have my own cool kitchen items. My favorite being the red KitchenAid mixer that my Honey gave me. (I'm quite attached to my matching red toaster too!) And I have no clue how I made it without a food processor!

I'm making blackened chicken for tonight to christen our new Lodge cast-iron skillet (thanks Leigh!).

Jay had to work this morning...I hate when he has to work on Saturdays! (This from the person who worked every Saturday January - April this past year) I did, however, have the chance to start working on some more thank you notes! To anyone who is getting married anytime in the future: DO NOT procrastinate writing thank you notes. We got back from the honeymoon, and I had to go back to work right away, and Jay was moving in....then I got sick and could barely drag myself to work....and then we went to Taos for Christmas. So, it's been almost a month and I'm still writing! I have found that I can only write about five notes in one sitting. Anymore than that...and my handwriting gets sloppy, I misspell words, etc.

On the subject of giving thanks and working on Saturdays...I'm soo excited and thankful that my firm has decided to go to a 45 hour work week during tax season!! This means no more working 54 hour weeks (including half days every Saturday). We will only have to work 4 Saturdays (2 in March and 2 in April). They will be full days, though, but I'm excited about it anyways. There was an article about the firm in the Clarion-Ledger earlier this month. Everyone is really excited about it, yet slightly skeptical. I have been assigned A TON of returns (apparently they assume you get smarter once you pass the exam), so I may be working more than the "requirement", but it is still a lot less pressure knowing that less is expected/required. I love love my job! :)

First time!

One of my (many) New Year's Resolutions is to start blogging.

My husband, Jay, and I just got married a few weeks ago! We have been enjoying married life so far, but we're looking forward to things slowing down and returning to "normal" (whatever normal is). We spent Christmas in Taos, visiting my younger brother, Cullen. We had a great time! We haven't seen him in forever, and we (well Cullen and I) had fun skiing. Now its back to the daily grind.

Jay and I have a darling maltipoo puppy named Abby. She is 6 months old and absolutely positively spoiled rotten. She definitely keeps things interesting around our house.