Making This House a Home

I love the idea of blogging. I love having a place where our friends and family can come and check in on us. But... Too much of the time I'm inside my own head asking "Who wants to know any of this?" or "Am I even slightly interesting?"

Basically, having a blog about my family, myself and our adventures is useless if the only thing I do is question whether blogging is right for me and if anyone will read it. So I'm just going to dive right back into this thing... I'm going to talk about the stuff that Drew and I are doing, regardless if anyone else finds it interesting... Because I want to.

So ... we moved. That's the most interesting thing we've done together in the 7-8 years of our courtship. We moved far too! And I quit my job and I started school. And it has been one hell of a ride! We have had to reevaluate a lot in our lives to make this move happen. Our income (which is a repetitive theme and cause of turmoil), our communication patterns, who we are now as individuals and as a family unit, and how we want to be.

These are all topics I'll jump into eventually when I have more than 20 minutes before leaving for class... But today I thought I'd talk about something that has gotten me pretty excited these days: Cooking!

While Drew was traveling for work the last few weeks I decided to take a stand with myself. Too often I live off of Papa John's when he is traveling and ultimately I feel even crappier about being alone than I would if I were eating right. --Funny how crappy foods lead to crappy feelings, no? So I took a stand! I put my foot down and threw (most of) the Doritos away! I started first just by making an effort to eat breakfast.. and eat a healthy one. To my surprise a few things happened:

1. By making a healthier choice on breakfast (instead of a typical bagel and cream cheese) I was finding that I was fuller, longer. And as a result I was also less likely to burst out in fits of hanger and instead was able to continue making healthy choices throughout the day.

2. I was happier! Just by the pure and simple fact that I was taking ownership over my meal, I felt confident in my decision making.

3. I'm not a half bad cook! I mean, sure, I'm starting small... crockpot soup over here, baked egg over there... But damn, it tastes good!

So when Drew got home, I cooked some stuff and realized that this made *both* of us happy! So we started cooking together! And we started becoming even better communicators.

Here's a look at some of the stuff we've been cooking:

Yesterday's Breakfast
Sausage-Stuffed Acorn Squash with Baked Egg

One of my First Breakfast Adventures
Baked Egg and Laughing Cow Over Side Salad

Drew's Specialty
Baked Egg in a Tomato

My FAVORITE So Far (Might even make it this morning)
Scrambled Eggs with Bosc Pear, Laughing Cow, and Roasted Chicken

Old Reliable:

Quinoa Flakes
(This one is with frozen fruit, but my favorite combination has been with a bosc pear and maple syrup)

An Oldie but a Goodie

Steak and Yukon Gold Potatoes with Sauteed Onions and Mushrooms

Still Dreaming of This One
Homemade Tomato Basil Soup with a Grilled Brie, Bacon and Pear Sandwich

Be on the look out for more delicious adventures :) 

xo S+D