Awwwww.........

Today I walked through the door to a new adventure, abounding opportunity, peace, professionalism, dignity, grace, passion and energy…..I walked through the door to my new office.





I embraced this new chapter of my life with a huge smile, open arms, and a new found sense of myself, the self that has been lost for the past 7 years.

Half of the staff for the Tulsa Affiliate started today (Lindsay and I).

Lindsay….who is heading up special events as our Race for the Cure/Special Events Coordinator.


She is a gem! Recently relocated to Tulsa from Alabama, she is not only going to make a profound impact on our team but also in the community.

Linda…..our Operations Coordinator.


I have only known Linda for a few weeks, but what an outstanding women of God. A woman of strength, versatility, and a heart of a servant.

Christy……our Executive Director.


I have yet to meet a woman with more passion and excitement for her job, which to Christy is not a job at all, but a mission. She exudes love for Susan G. Komen For the Cure, the vision, the people, the survivors, and those that have lost their battle to this horrific disease. She is my boss, but I can see her also being a huge mentor, teacher, and leader.

As I sat down at my desk to digest the new information I had been handed on the first day..........


I looked out the window (side note....my office overlooks a golf course) and simply let out and awwwwww.


I feel at home!

My first day at my new job in this new chapter of my life was nothing short of extraordinary. Everything I hoped a job for me would be, this is it.

I am not sure this is a coincidence.

The adventure began……I have to confess I have not yet paid for this new adventure so I can’t get emails or send emails, but I can get “winks”. The “winks” started coming in late last night, and as I read the profiles of the men sending the winks I thought “I may have prematurely announced to the world I was going to try this online dating thing. I am not sure by the looks and sounds of the crop of men in the Tulsa area that I am going to have much success”. So……….should I purchase a month of service or should I not, that is the question of the year.

Back to the adventure…..I was weeding through the winks, determining if there were any worth winking back at, when I ran across something extremely perplexing. I began reading a profile that started out something like this “About me……I absolutely love my family, my friends, and life in general!! I am totally independent. My daughter’s are more important to me than anything…………” I thought to myself, “Oh my gosh how strange, that is exactly how my profile opens, the only portion that differs is my profile states “I am totally independent, yet completely reliant on God.” As I continued reading I realized………….are you ready for this…………..he copied my entire profile description and made it his own. Changing all the he’s to she’s and adding a few blurbs about his daughters.

At first I was quite ticked which quickly changed over to complete disbelief. I realized at that moment why I am still single in the town of Tulsa. I don’t handle idiots, and this guy exemplifies stupidity. I am not saying that all men in Tulsa were produced from the same dumb crop as this guy; he might just take the cake. Who thinks it is an awesome idea to copy an entire profile from someone and then wink at that person, as though I am not going to recognize the words I am reading.

I am going to let this adventure marinate overnight before I determine if this form of dating is something I really want to do. My best friend mentioned she knows of a perfect guy for me, if only he lived closer, and if only he would be interested in a girl like me, it would be a match made in heaven and we would not be sitting here discussing the pros and cons of online dating.

My friends be thankful you are not out here in the dating world swimming with the piranhas.

Love ya,
Jen

Only time will tell………..

To sum up my life in one word these days it would be ‘change’. As you all know my job is changing, did I happen to mention how excited I was about that? My marathon training is changing; it is changing in that I was advised by my running coach to bow out of the Oklahoma City ½ marathon this year. My last job was…….let’s just say………a tad stressful. When this sister is under a lot of stress I can’t eat very well, and I don’t sleep all too well, which put together does not equal adequate training material. No food, no sleep, and battling injuries this season, it was determined that in order to save my body for the next race using best judgment would be to gracefully bow out of this race, there will always be another.

I am also in the process of packing up my apartment to move into a house across town, which its self will be a huge change. However, the bigger kicker is I will have a roommate, which will be so great in so many ways; I have someone to cook for, bake for, share my day with, golf with, and so much more. But I think I need to insert a confession of sorts……I have not had a roommate since my best friend and I left college almost 7 years ago. Yeah, this is going to be a huge change for me. I will certainly have a house full of stories to share!

So I figured since everything else in my life is changing why not throw caution to the wind and try something friends have been trying to get me to do for years…………drum roll please………online dating. Now I have tried this before, but to be honest had a huge stigma in my mind about it all and didn’t give it a fair shake. I would not give anyone a chance really because I didn’t want to have to tell people “I met him online”. I simply thought it made me seem desperate that I resorted to online dating to find a potential suitor. I also felt that God would provide that one and only man for my life that I simply needed to be patient. However, I do realize that God is not going to simply drop Mr. Right on my doorstep and call it a day, although I certainly would not be opposed to that. I recognize I also have to work at this, God can’t make everything easy. Being my friends don’t have any single guy friends to introduce me to, my family doesn’t know anyone that is single, I have yet to met any single men in all the extra circular activities I engage in, I figured I had to be creative. So my friends I am going to try my very hardest to be open minded and open hearted with this online thing.

I would like to promise you all some fun, juicy, adventure filled stories, however, I do know how very picky I am when it comes to men I let into my life. But like I said I am going to try. So stay tuned over the next few months I may have a date or two to share with you all.

Love ya,
Jen

The first day of the rest of my life!!

Today I said goodbye to everything that has been my life for the past 2+ years, and hello to everything my life still has yet to be.

I said goodbye to an office that was more or less been my home away from home, many hours of work (or golf) was logged….



I said goodbye to friends that have become so much a part of me and my life.

Friends that have stepped in as my Oklahoma Momma and have held me up during my most challenging days…………


Friends that simply made me laugh………….


Friends that provide support in times of doubt………..


Friends that exuded a calming spirit………..


I said goodbye to friends, one of the hardest things to say goodbye to.

I said goodbye to bosses, co-workers, and an office filled with more dynamic than a Sigmund Freud study.

Amidst all the goodbyes I did not lose track to what I was getting ready to say hello to.

Next Wednesday I will be welcoming the rest of my life. A life I hope is full of passion, zest, promise, giving, and a sense of accomplishment. A life full of open doors, answered prayers, challenging opportunities, and bonds made. We all have the opportunity to grab tight to new adventures and to let those adventures change our life.

What an amazing sight to sit back and watch your life begin to fall together and what peace you find when God is the one opening the doors for us to walk through, rather than us forcing our way through closed doors we feel should be open.

Time to share

I am happy and hopeful for the first time in a really long time. I suppose I should be a bit more clear…..I am elated, excited beyond words, my heart is jumping out of my chest, and I was told by a dear friend today, that “you look amazing….you look a lot different”. So that led me to think……”do I tend to not look decent on a normal day?” Just kidding I knew what he meant, I look HAPPY, and my friends I am.

Most of you know how passionate I am about the Susan G. Komen For The Cure. I can say with almost 100% certainty that we have all been touched by the horrific disease of breast cancer in one way or another. I personally missed out on an entire life of having my grandmother by my side, being my cheerleader, my beacon of light in the dark, my encourager, and my support, due to being a victim of this awful illness. The time to find a cure was yesterday, it takes legislator, volunteers, survivors, passionate sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts, brothers, grandsons, friends, and staff to devote energy, time, and love to an organization designed just for that…………..to find a cure.

I am blessed far beyond what words can express to be part of the staff at the Tulsa Affiliate of Susan G. Komen. I accepted a position with the affiliate this afternoon, and have not been able to control my heart from more or less jumping out of my chest with enthusiasm. As I gave my resignation to my current job, I think my boss could tell I was over the moon, I am sure my gignormous smile didn’t give it away at all. He could simply say…………….I can’t sit here and tell you I am not sad to see you go, but you have to do what makes you happy, life is too short to not be happy doing what you do day in and day out, I can't be the one to stand in your way.

So after 3.5 interviews, LOTS of prayer, hours of sleep lost, LOTS of prayer, conversations had, a letter of reference from a great friend (thank you Yale), LOTS of prayer, thank you letters sent, throwing myself into my current job, and more prayer I got the position. I have never been so nervous, so anxious, so excited about a final decision as I was about this one. So those adult decisions…………..they have been made, and what an amazing feeling that is.

Love you,
Jen

No winter lasts forever, or does it?

Yesterday afternoon I took some vacation time from the office and enjoyed an amazing last day of winter. An amazing day full of sunshine and temperatures nearing 73 degrees.

I did some moving into the house I will soon be calling home……


I took a run along the river……




I enjoyed the small signs that spring is on the way……..




It did feel as though a storm was fixn’ to move in, the wind was out of control…….


I ended the day with a yummy meal with a great friend.

Oh how glad I am that spring is almost here. A time for jeans and short sleeve tops, flip flops, pony tails, sunglasses, sunroofs open, bbq’s, reading on the porch at sunset, oh how the list goes on. Spring makes me very very happy!!

That storm I felt was moving in....well it did, this is what I walked out my front door to see this morning…….

No that is not powdered sugar, that is snow.

Ummmmmm, I thought March 20th was the first day of spring?

This does not look like spring to me, nor does it make me want to do a happy dance…….


I am losing hope that winter is ever going to end in Oklahoma.

Spring please come back!!
Jen

With great trepidation.

I was sitting at my desk today working my fingers to the bone when I heard a knock on my office door. I swung around to see my boss standing there. I prepared myself for a sit down conversation regarding some work related issue when he say “the weatherman mentioned it is suppose to be warm tomorrow, would you like to grab a quick lunch and then stop by the driving range to hit a few balls?”. After conquering the overwhelming memories of how this appeared on my leg…………….

I responded with a quivering……ssssssuuuurrrreee, even though I would much prefer to stay in a safe zone, away from tinny flying golf balls. Memories of my first trip to the driving range came flooding back……..

……It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, the day after my first golf lesson. When my dear friend Karie, her husband Andy, and I headed to the driving range in Owasso.


I was over the moon; this little outing was going to be a blast. I was convinced golf was my new passion, eat your heart out Anna Rowson, the LPGA was fixn’ to be taken by storm.



Because Andy just had back surgery we rented a golf cart to tool over to the driving range in, boy did I feel hip and cool! I did not even wait for the cart to come to a stop before hopping out, grabbing my driver and heading up the small hill to the driving range. I found some serious distance when my driver connected to the golf balls. Andy’s back prevented him from swinging a club, but he did pop balls to Karie and I, which really was a win win for all of us. Andy got to disobey doctor’s orders and stand behind us gently putting while Karie and I never ran out of golf balls to hit.


I was in heaven……golf club in hand, sun shining on my face and my pasty white arms, and experiencing great beginners luck. I was in my own little golf world. I faintly remembered hearing Andy say “I think I am going to drive a few balls”. I didn’t think anything of it…….I just keep smiling and finding peace in my happy golf place.

That was till I was slapped back into reality as I was falling to the ground with a horrific pain in my leg. You see……….Andy did drive that golf ball………….straight into the back of my leg. I found myself on the ground, seeing stars, wondering what in the heck just happened, and hearing Karie yelling at Andy and asking if I was okay.

After catching my breath, holding back tears, and thinking "my gosh if child birth hurts half as bad as that just did, I am never signing up to have children", I got up dusted myself off and began to realize what just transpired. Ice was applied, a headache began to form, and the attempt to hit more golf balls was made. The only problem with golfing and having these new variables to contend with…….I could not hit a ball to save my life. It was time to head in for the day, not only was I getting frustrated with the lack of ball to club contact I was also in excruciating pain and was not able to put weight on my right leg.

So you see the terror in heading to a driving range. I have been back to driving ranges quite a few times since having my leg permanently disfigured. However, each time I find my body and soul filled with trepidation.

Let the adventure begin,
Jen

What is love?

I thought about conferring with Mr. Webster on this one, but then reconsidered. I would guess that we all have a slightly different idea and interpretation of love…..well most any emotion for that matter, but we are just going to stick with love today. When I think about the things I love the same words and images come to mind. To me love is passion, difficult, exciting, requires sacrifice, evokes tears, inspires laughter, allows heartbreak, feels amazing……love is life!

My family…..I love them, very very much. They all encompass everything love is to me. One of those people I love is my grandmother whom we lost a few years ago. Today would have been her birthday, and although I miss her and think about her daily, I also embrace the extraordinary memories we made. From swimming in the incredibly cold water “down at the crik”, to reading books, to picking peaches, to going shopping at this store known as Wall-Mart…..not being from OK I had no idea how big Wall-Mart really was till I was in college. Grandma touched so many lives with her strength, grace, wisdom, compassion, and heart. I love her and I miss her.

Love……..one of the most remarkable feelings that has the potential of feeling the most devastating. But if you ask me I would rather know the feeling of love than live a life free of heartbreak and disappointment.


Jen

Faith

I set out this evening to continue my epic observation on how hope, faith, love, and prayer have provided sanity for me through my first 31 years. Sharing with you how my faith in God, family, friends, passions, love, and life have gotten me to the place I am today. But I ran across a seriously nasty case of writers block and two great quotes that seem to sum up anything a lengthy Jennifer monolog could have provided.

Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step. –Joni Erickson Tada

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. -Helen Keller

There you have it my friends, short, sweet, and to the point! I am now off to work on a cure for this writers block, I hope to have a diagnosis within the next 20 hours.

Bye for now,
Jen

Bitten

Last night as I was cooking the awesome tortellini dish, I got bitten, bitten by the cooking bug. I suppose this bug knew I had been slacking in the department of recipe posts on this blog, because after cooking dinner I had the urge to bake something. I am not sure if it was poison from the bug or that I may have been experiencing sympathy cravings for my best buddy, either way I could not kick the life threatening need for something sweet. So I scrounged, I dug, I ravaged my kitchen and found enough ingredients to make Creamy Carmel-Pecan Rolls.



You will need:
1 ¼ cups sifted powdered sugar
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 16-ounce loaves frozen white bread dough or sweet roll dough, thawed
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
¾ cup raisins (optional)

Preparation:
1) Grease two 9x1 ½ inch round baking pans; set pans aside. For topping, in a small bowl stir together powdered sugar and whipping cream; divide evenly between prepared baking pans. Sprinkle pecans evenly over sugar mixture.
2) In another small bowl stir together brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll each loaf of dough into a 12x8-inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter; sprinkle with brown sugar-cinnamon mixture. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3) Roll up each rectangle starting from a long side. Seal seams. Slice each roll into 12 pieces. Place pieces, cut sides down, on topping in pans.
4) Cover; let rise in a warm place until nearly double (about 30 minutes). Break any surface bubbles with a greased toothpick.
5) Bake in a 375o oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown (if necessary, cover rolls with foil the last 10 minutes of baking to prevent over browning). Cool in pans on wire rack for 5 minutes. Carefully invert rolls onto a serving platter. Serve warm.



I promise this ooy gooy goodness with take care of any sweet tooth.

Love ya,
Jen

Yummy recipe…..and other important matters.

A couple important matters to address………..

1) My best friend in the whole wide world told the world yesterday that she is going to be a mommy for the second time. Aunt Jennifer is going to have another little tike to spoil....I can't wait!!



2) A number of you have inquired as to how my daddy is doing. I first would like to thank you all for the prayers, thoughts, and concerns regarding my daddy. I feel blessed to pass the news along that he is doing great!! He is still weak and can’t do as much physically as he would like, no yard work, or hikes, or anything really…..but that is to be expected. He simply needs to rest, which is hard for anyone in our family to do and he is no exception. But if doctor's orders are followed he will gain more strength each day, and be as good as new in no time.

Okay now that we have address two of the happiest pieces of info in my life at the moment I can now focus on the rest of the post.

With training season in high gear and the marathon being only 6 week away I figure I should begin focusing on my diet more than I typically do. I was not one that use to be madly and deeply in love with carbohydrates, when encountering foods high in carbs I certainly did not throws my arms around them in a loving embrace, quite the contrary really, I would run far and fast in the opposite direction. However, once I discovered how much I loved running, my relationship with carbs changed, it had to in order for me to be successful and not kill over during a race.

Carbohydrates are necessary for general good health; they supply energy to keep your heart, brain, and vital organs operating. In other words carbs are the fuel for your body, and during marathon training we use A LOT of fuel. Research indicates that the average runner burns approximately 110 calories per mile and about 75% of those calories are from carbohydrates. It has been mentioned that runners training for a marathon (or a half in my case) should have a diet that allows for the consumption of 65%-70% carbohydrates. Now that you know more than you ever wanted to know about carbs, I have a scrumptious stick to your bones carb rich recipe to share with you.

This evening I made Tortellini with Rosemary-Tomato Sauce, oh my goodness was it ever good.



You will need:

2 9-ounce packages refrigerated cheese filled tortellini
2 14.5-ounce cans pasta-style tomatoes, undrained
¼ cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon snipped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
½ cup sliced pitted ripe olives

Preparation:
1) Cook tortellini according to package directions. Drain; keep warm.
2) Meanwhile, for sauce, in a medium saucepan stir together undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, and rosemary. Bring to boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes or until desired consistency. Stir in olives; heat through. Spoon sauce over tortellini.



Enjoy,
Jen

My hope.

My brain is now fully rested, well as rested as it can be off of 4 hours of sleep, but that is my life these days and I wouldn’t change a thing. Well may be just one thing, or two, oh wait maybe three. This leads me back to my pitiful sleepy end of a rambling mess that was yesterday’s post….HOPE. So these adult decisions that I am in the process of making, these decisions that in time I will be able to share with all of you, have caused me to pause and reflect on where my life is and where I HOPE it leads.

I hope……..

I fall in love

God gives me enough strength in times of loss, disappointment, and pain, to muddle through the emotions.

The wars will end

That everyone has the chance to feel God’s love

I get married

My career takes me places

I have babies

I am never near an out of control fire

That during my life I touch someone else’s

Hope by definition means “a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. In a religious context, it is not considered as a physical emotion but as a spiritual grace”. (Wikipedia 2010)

As I was analyzing all the things I hope for, I realized something quite profound. At least it seemed profound to me, but then again we are discussing my thought process, and I have not been known to fall into the category of the likes of Aristotle, Albert Einstein, John Locke, and all the great philosophers of the world. This huge epiphany that I uncovered is quite simple really………..all my hopes are simply the opposite of all my fears. You see.....I fear I will never fall in love, I fear I will never get married, I fear I will never have babies. Even more reason for us to all hold tight to our hopes, they will fend off our fears.

Happy Friday all,
Jen

Reflections

Hypothetically speaking I would have a great day at the office, my group run would have made my heart skip a beat, and I would be watching Grey’s Anatomy with my feet up by 8pm. However, we are not speaking in hypothetical terms here; in fact my day was as far removed from the hypothetical as possible. My day started at 5am and I didn’t take that first step into my front door until 9pm, so unfortunately my brain has shifted into loss of intellect mode. With that said, I don’t take any reasonability for what is divulged in this post tonight.

I have spent a great deal of time the past few days thinking about Hope, Faith, Love, Prayer and where each of those fit into my life. I am going to take a day to reflect more closely on each of these aspects of life. This reflection was going to start with Hope this evening, however I am thinking that if I battle with my head to stay in an upright and locked position for much longer, I can say with 100% certainty I will lose the battle. There is nothing more frightening than for me to type out my adventures, thoughts, and deepest darkest secrets for you all, and fall sleep doing it. Who knows what you could be reading if that were to be the outcome. So with that I say good night, sleep well, sweet dreams, and I will share my reflections tomorrow.

Love ya,
Jen

Keep moving

The thing about training for a long race is you may wake up on any given Sunday following say, a 10+ mile run on Saturday and not really be able to walk. On Monday your ability to move may be even more limited, so you decide to head to the pool for a couple hours of swimming. By Tuesday if your name begins with Jenn and ends with ifer then your leg muscles may still be screaming at you for torturing them the previous Saturday and to add insult to injury your arms from your ingenuous marathon of a swim on Monday now feel as though you bench pressed a small truck.

I was going to skip training tonight. Let’s be honest; did I really think I was going to be successful in running 3-5 miles when I couldn’t even walk across the hall without favoring my entire body? However, amidst the anguish I reluctantly slid into my car after work and headed north to the TU campus, where I chose to join my running group for some speed training. After all our running coaches tell us to “keep your muscles in motion to provide relief from DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). So I did just that, kept my legs in motion.

Our training tonight may have been the hardest workout so far for me this training season. However I am happy to report I can at least move following our run. Once I got in this evening I did some research on other solution to help alleviate muscles soreness. I may be the only one that faces this type of predicament of sore muscles. Nonetheless, I still would love to share my findings with you:

Ice
Rest
Anti-inflammatory meds
Massage
Heat
Stretching
Walking
Swimming

My uneducated and unsolicited advice, for anyone that is interested in listening....if your body is sore following a vigorous workout and pleading......“no, please no, no more exercise” don’t cave. Follow your mind and your heart not your muscles, be rational though, you will know when your muscles are simply complaining or saying they hurt beyond a normal degree. Get out there and burn some calories, just don’t overdo it and get injured.

Enjoy your healthy life,
Jen

Adult decision

As I sit here thinking about the events of the day, a question comes to mind; what happened to the days when our most pressing matters revolved around diverting naps and how to get as much play time in before the sun went down? The largest decision in a given day was whether to ride bikes around the block or hang out in the playhouse in the backyard. If anyone knows where that time went and how I could get it back, could you please let me know ASAP.

That saying....when it rains it pours, well my friends it is pouring on me right now and I left my umbrella at home. This rain shower is however a spring shower, one of those dance in the rain type of showers. Nonetheless I will also say, reality is staring me in the face and to be honest is beating me in stare down right now. I am a huge advocate of grasping change with both hands and letting it potentially change our lives. However, when do we know whether we are suppose to take route 'B' or stay on route 'A' for in reality they both have the potential to change our lives.

What route do I choose? That is the question of the year, and still yet to be determined. The one thing I do know is God will guide my choices, my friends and family will support me, and my heart will flutter with joy. Knowing all that, I still don’t like making adult decisions.

Love ya,
Jen

Family, laughs, and old stomping grounds

I was on a mission yesterday; I wanted to get some great silhouette pictures. My day was all planned out……running 10 miles, working for a couple of hours, then heading to the TU track at sunset for some keep your fingers crossed outstanding pictures. However, my plans changed when I got a texted from my Aunt Susie asking if I could meet them in Stillwater around 5:00. I was not about to pass up the opportunity to spend time with Aunt Susie and Maggie so there were no knock your socks off sunset pictures in the cards for the day. However, being I go nowhere without my trusty DSLR sidekick, I was able to capture a few pictures from my old stomping grounds.

I had 25 mins. until I needed to be at Hideaway for the best pizza this side of the Mississippi.



Being I didn't have a lot of time, I simply hit some hot spots on campus.

Old Central was the first stop. My apologizes for the poor landscape; however OSU campus, well really Oklahoma in general is not known for their stunning scenery during the winter months.



Then off to the library where.....many, many, many a hours were logged during my time on campus.



The Student Union, which is under construction again. It seems to be a building that is always getting a face lift.



OH The Strip….a close second in terms of hours spent on this street to hours spent in the library. The funny thing is I don’t drink at all anymore, I guess I got it all out of my system on this stretch of road years ago.




I figured I better start hiking it up University street and meet my family for some yummy yummy pizza. We had so much fun, catching up on time lost and celebrating Christmas and birthdays (I told you it is a hereditary disease, runs in the entire family………..we celebrate holidays a bit later than most). Following dinner we headed to Stillwater High to watch the Fairview girls take on Dale in a basketball play off game. It was a rough game for the Fairview Yellow jackets, but I enjoyed spending time with the family. Even though it was late following the game and we all realized we needed to get on the road back to our respectable homes we just didn’t want to leave each other, so we headed to get some frozen yogurt and then talked for an additional hour and a half. At 11pm we all faced reality and knew it was time to depart ways. I will not let months pass again between visits with my aunt. 2010 is the year of family and friends for me, I have been doing a pretty good job so far, I hope to keep up the open lines of communication and visits.

Seems that I am one lucky girl, I have had the most extraordinary weekends for weeks now. I was in Houston Valentines weekend spending time with my best friend and celebrating her daughter’s birthday. My birthday weekend I was at the George Straight/Reba concert, last weekend I was at the OSU/KU basketball game, and yesterday I had the most fun spending time with two amazing people in my life. I absolutely love the people in my life, they make me smile, make me laugh, and make me always see the silver lining when life gets the best of me.

Love you all,
Jen

Zucchini with a zip

With all these thought of hearts and daddy and life in general running around in my disorganized mess of a brain I realized…..I need to post a recipe! See what I mean disorganized, no rhyme or reason behind my line of thinking at all.

I have not posted any sort of yummy goodness in quite a while. As I have been thumbing through the American Heart Association (AHA) website and searching for heart healthy foods the past two days I have heard the same thing over and over….

Fruits….more than 4.5 cups a day (check)

Vegetables….again more than 4.5 cups a day (check)

Small amounts of added sugar…..less than 450 calories/week (check, that is unless you count eating an entire birthday cake all by myself…but, we won’t count that)

Small amounts of sodium….less than 1,500 mg/day (check)

Fiber-rich whole grains….more than 3 one oz servings/day (check)

Oily fish….2 or more 3.5 oz servings/week (Wait one second!!! Who do they think they are talking to, this chicka is a vegetarian doesn’t the AHA know that? Am I really going to have to add ucky yucky fish into my diet just for my heart health, oh yicks scary!!!).

Adding fish to my diet………..well the jury is still out on that one, so in the mean time I am going to let you in on this oh so yummy side dish that does not include any sort of animal, but will make you dance a gig in your kitchen when you take that first bite……..it is that scrumptious.

South of the boarder Zucchini

You will need a host of heart healthy ingredients to make this dish sizzle.



1 tablespoon light margarine
2 small zucchini (approximately 6 oz each)
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 medium fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded
1 can (4.5 oz) chopped green chiles
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon pepper

Let’s get started…….before you fire up the stove top make sure all your veggies are cut up, measured, and ready to be added to a warm margarine glazed skillet.

Slice the two zucchini crosswise into ¼ inch pieces and set aside. Measure out the corn and set aside with the zucchini. Cut the jalapeno, discard the seeds and rid and finish chopping it up.

In a medium nonstick skillet, melt the margarine over medium-high heat.



If you are feeling a little wild shake the skillet a bit as the margarine rolls around, if you are a dainty cook in the kitchen gentle swirl the margarine with a wooden spoon, and still yet if you are a disorganized mess find whatever means suite your fancy just make sure the melted margarine coats the bottom of the skillet in its entirety.

Add the zucchini,


garlic, jalapeno,


green chiles,


and corn.


Stir regularly to blend the ingredients and flavors. Cook for 7-9 mins. until the zucchini is slightly tender and lightly browned.

Sprinkle with cumin and pepper, stir gently.


Serve as a side to any chosen creature of the sea your eating as a main dish. I on the other hand add it to a serving of brown rice.



Enjoy,
Jen