Catching up on the last few weeks...

Forgive me for not posting ANYTHING the last few weeks....they have been insane, to say the least! To recap:

-Tim had been suffering from a horrible cough/wheezing/chest tightness/difficulty breathing since mid-December. We initially assumed it was a normal cough, so we didn't worry. It didn't go away, however, and eventually we found ourselves in urgent care more than a few times. I'll spare you the details, but the doctors have diagnosed it as allergy-triggered asthma, although they have yet to figure out what allergy (based on testing it is not one of the common ones). They finally put Tim on medicine which seems to be working and he now feels ~80% better, praise the Lord! Thanks to all of you who were praying/thinking of us during this difficult and scary time.

-I began working. 2 weeks down now and...oh my...I feel like I have begun an entirely new career! The specialized care/skilled nursing setting is entirely different than outpatient. I am being challenged and stretched, but it is good. I know that new jobs have a learning curve, but it can sometimes be a painful process. I am trying to be patient and do my best...I can't wait for everything to just "click"!

-Tim surprised me last Monday evening with a day-early Valentine's date to a European Bistro I have been wanting to try. It was pretty good...but didn't blow us away. But we had a fun and relaxing evening!

-We had some special guests in town this weekend...my best friend Kristin and her husband Tim came in town for a wedding and stayed with us!! They live in Peoria, Illinois, so I don't get to see them often...I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. I actually haven't seen Kristin since my own wedding, and it is so wonderful to get to spend time with her. We visited the monuments in DC, as well as Old Town Alexandria. I was very sad to see them go :(

-My recipes have simplified since I began working. I no longer can start thinking/prepping dinner at 4pm...so it's a little more challenging! Here are my latest recipes:

Cranberry Almond Granola 

This is so delicious. And nutritious. Tim and I love granola, but the store bought kind is usually really sweet and full of artificial flavorings and preservatives. Gross. So I decided to make my own. I burned the first batch (not my fault, the recipe was wrong!), but the second batch turned out much better. Feel free to tweak this recipe to your taste/texture preferences. The only problem is that all the "good stuff" (chia, quinoa, wheat germ, flax) will sink to the bottom of the bowl, so be sure to fish it out of the milk! I adapted this recipe from one I found online, so here is my version:

3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons water

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Combine oats, wheat germ, flax seeds, cinnamon, almonds, pecans, coconut, quinoa, chia, and cranberries in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl combine vegetable oil, brown sugar, honey, and water.
4. Add the honey mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until all the oats are evenly coated.  Transfer wet granola evenly on to two large cookie sheets lined with parchment paper
5. Cook ~25-30 minutes, keeping an eye on it and stirring thoroughly every 10 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and allow granola to completely cool before serving.  Don’t worry if the granola doesn’t seem completely crunchy after coming out of the oven.  It will crisp up once completely cooled.

Butternut Squash Cranberry Spinach Salad

I sort of made this up based on what I had in the fridge. Excuse my lame recipe recollections...
Drizzle some olive oil over some diced butternut squash and red onion. Coat thoroughly and season with pepper and a little salt. Roast in the oven until squash is tender. Pull the squash out of the oven and immediately pour over a bed of organic baby spinach. Add dried cranberries and toasted pecans. Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over the top and toss everything together. This is delicious...Tim had 4 bowls of it!

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (you can use regular or flavored...I used pear cinnamon)
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon minced garlic
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup olive oil

Whisk vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, salt, pepper together until well blended. Add olive oil slowly and continue to whisk until combined.

Sweet Potato and Spinach Quinoa

This is another "use whatever you have in the fridge" recipe. It's just a combination of lots of delicious things I already had:
Roasted sweet potatoes
Roasted red onion
Baby spinach
Black beans (drained and rinsed)
Chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
Cooked jasmine rice
Cooked quinoa

Combine and add desired spices. I used fresh cilantro, cumin, pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder.

Lastly, something happened that got me pretty excited the other day. Our wedding photographer featured our wedding on her blog! Check it out by clicking HERE!

Until next time...

Big News....

Want to guess what it is? Actually...please don't. I'm afraid of what some of you might think is the Big News.

The truth is...I have accepted a job here in Alexandria! I will be working in a facility that has several different units including sub-acute, tracheostomy, dementia, and specialized care. This will be quite different than my last two jobs, which were in outpatient orthopedics and balance/vertigo clinics. However, I do feel this is where I'm supposed to be, and I'm excited and anxious to learn all the new skills this job will require.

There are many reasons why I accepted this job and declined the other opportunities I was offered. One thing for sure, though, the decision did not come easy. I spent much time in prayer and thought, trying to figure out just what my daily life would look like in each of the job situations. I had to consider many variables...my daily commute time, car versus metro, daily hours working, hourly wage, clinical setting, holiday/weekend hours, staff, environment, benefits, etc. I was fortunate in that I had a positive experience with all the companies I interviewed with.

At this facility, every staff member I met was extremely nice, and I felt very "wanted". The executive director of rehab called me twice, once after my interview to see if I had any clinical questions, and again after I accepted the offer to let me know how excited she was that I am going to be joining their team. There are about 14 PT's and OT's...and I will be the only PTA. Apparently, PTA's are hard to come by in this area, which explains why they were so persistent!

Looking back, I can see so many "ironic" things that happened that all led me to this job, including the fact that I almost exited the online application three different times because I was so fed up with the 20 pages of personality questions that took me over 2 hours to complete! And then I almost canceled my interview because I thought I was going to accept a job with a different company. And since I had the mindset that I wasn't going to work at this facility, I was not stressed or anxious going into the interview...which means I probably interviewed much better than normal! Good thing God knows me better than I think I do. I start orientation Monday...goodbye domestic life, hello working life!


I have to pause here and give a little belated birthday shout-out to my favorite little man. I remember the day his mommy found out she was pregnant with him. I happened to be at her house that afternoon and can recall all the details very clearly...especially all the rounds of pregnancy tests. I bet she took 13. It's hard to believe that was 5 years ago...

Happy 5th Birthday to my favorite Ring Bearer!

We have been really blessed with some incredible friends here  in NOVA. Multiple times per week/weekend we get together with friends and cook, eat, drink, talk, hang out, watch movies, etc. Last weekend was Grace's birthday, so people went over Saturday night for "cultural movie/foodie night". She and Scott made butternut squash soup, Indian food and green tea cookies (my new fav, seriously). They even made a veggie dish for me...aren't they great?! Grace also taught us some Korean words. I would write them but I don't know how to really spell them.

Happy Birthday Grace!

Yesterday, a bunch of girls from my community group got together for a "Crafty Valentine Brunch" at Starr's house. I feel like I can be crafty sometimes, as long as I'm in the mood and have an idea/vision for a project. All day on Saturday, I was surrounded by some insanely crafty and talented girls (who can also make yummy food!)...we had so much fun!

Meet Starr and Steven's dog, Pancakes. She's adorable (and I don't normally like dogs)...so well behaved, polite (yet curious), and never made a sound the whole day!

Now onto recipes. I haven't cooked as much this past week for a variety of reasons, but I have made a few things.

For Saturday's party, I made mini frittatas, but put my own spin on them with spinach, mushrooms, sauteed onion, garlic, soy chorizo, cheese, and oregano. They were quite delicious.

I had a request from one of Tim's friends for a stuffed pepper recipe. I have never made stuffed peppers before, so I made it my goal to find the best one. It was more difficult that I thought. I ended up using parts of three different recipes as well as adding some of my own ingredients. Sorry, Matt, I don't have a "real" recipe for you to follow, but here is a list of ingredients that I cooked up, combined, and stuffed into those peppers! I did learn that it is good to microwave or boil the peppers prior to stuffing, in order to soften them and decrease baking time in the oven.

My version includes:

1/2 cup organic quinoa cooked in vegetable broth

1 cup brown basmati rice

1 can red beans, drained and rinsed well

½ cup chopped mushrooms

½ cup red onion

2 garlic cloves

(sautee garlic, onion, mushrooms together)

½ cup soy chorizo, warmed in skillet

1 cup corn

oregano, salt, pepper, to taste

1 cup fresh baby spinach, chopped

1 tablespoon (or more, depending on taste) cilantro chopped

cheese (mixed some inside, then put some on top to melt)

salsa and plain Greek yogurt, for serving, if desired 

Tonight, we are heading over to join some friends for a super bowl party. I'm bringing Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip dessert hummus. Oh yes, you read that right. You think it sounds gross? They address that topic on the recipe website, so go check it out. Serve it with graham crackers or cinnamon sugar pita and you are in heaven. At least in my opinion...

Until next time...