Chicken Jambalaya

This recipe is so easy and wonderful! Jambalaya is one of Justin's favorite things to eat and he gives this one 2 thumbs up. You can change it up a bit to make it healthier. Sometimes we will do both chicken and sausage and other times we will just do chicken. Either way it is still great.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken-breast halves
• 16 ounce package frozen bell peppers and onions
• 8 ounces smoked turkey sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 2 cups water
• 14.5 ounce diced tomatoes with jalapeno peppers, undrained
• 8 ounce package jambalaya rice mix (we use Zatarain's)

Directions

Cut chicken into 1/2-inch strips and cut up sausage as directed above. Cook chicken and sausage together in a pan until done. Then set them aside and follow the directions on the back of the Zatarain's box. You will add in the bell pepper's and onions when you add in the rice and seasoning as directed on the back of the box. Add in the chicken and sausage about 10 minutes before the rice is done.

Old-fashioned Sloppy Joes with Homeade Fries

This recipe was amazing. Justin loved it and so did I. It does take a little longer in prep time because of the fries but it is so worth it! Just make sure to start the fries first because that is what takes so long. If you go ahead and get all of the cutting, peeling, and chopping out of the way first then everything will go much more smoothly. Also, always remember to turn the oven on before you do anything else!

Baked Potatoes Fries
Serves 6

Ingredients
3 russet potatoes
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons Tony Chachere's
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven with a baking sheet inside to 450° F. Cut potatoes lengthwise into steak fries, about 3/4 by 1/2 inch, and toss with oil, seasoning and salt. Place seasoned potatoes onto the preheated sheet in a single layer. Bake potatoes, 15 minutes. Flip them and cook another 10 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.

Nutrition

Per serving (about 5oz/161g-wt.): 210 calories (60 from fat), 7g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 430mg sodium, 33g total carbohydrate (3g dietary fiber, 2g sugar), 4g protein

-Compliments of Whole Foods recipes

Old-fashioned Sloppy Joe's

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds 85% lean ground beef
1 yellow onion, chopped
Sea salt, to taste
Ground pepper, to taste
1 cup tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
4 burger buns, toasted

Directions

Brown the beef in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, 5—7 minutes. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook until onions soften, about 7 minutes. Add ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar and mustard. Stir to combine. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Spoon over split toasted hamburger buns.

Nutrition

Per serving (about 9oz/264g-wt.): 470 calories (200 from fat), 22g total fat, 8g saturated fat, 95mg cholesterol, 990mg sodium, 38g total carbohydrate (1g dietary fiber, 20g sugar), 30g protein

-Compliments of Whole Foods recipes

Chicken Taco Pizza

Serves 4 and we had leftovers for lunch the next day!

Ingredients

1 whole wheat pizza crust, thawed**
1/2 cup organic salsa or homemade
1/4 lb. part-skim mozzarella, shredded
1 cup no-salt added black beans
1 cup frozen yellow corn, thawed
1 chicken breast, skinless, grilled & chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F. Arrange crust on a pizza stone or large baking sheet. Spread salsa over crust and sprinkle with half of the cheese. Top with beans, corn, chicken and remaining cheese and bake until crust is crisp and cheese is bubbly, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro, cut into 8 pieces and serve with more salsa on the side.

-Compliments of Whole Foods Recipes

**If you like a little kick then add some jalapenos randomly over pizza. I sprinkled parmesan and garlic powder over ours to just add extra flavor. We also had a little ranch on ours as well. Get fat-free ranch or regular ranch and use the serving size. You do not need to use a lot!

Busy, Busy, Busy......

WHEW! Is all we can say right now. It seems like we are going and going. Wait, we are! We've had two baby showers we hosted back to back and a wedding shower we are hosting this Saturday. After this one it is our last for now. Until, someone else we love has something going on I am sure! So far they have all been very successful! Great turn outs and a great time with friends. We have not had many weddings yet but no worries that will all really start May 1st. Our good friends Brad and Mary are getting hitched that day, so we are looking forward to celebrating that special time with them. So between babies and weddings that is all we have been up to this month.

Our new house update is they FINALLY poured the foundation. WHOO HOO!! That was very exciting. They are "supposed" to start framing this week. I went by yesterday and they had the wood out there so I hope they make some progress this week on it. We have had a little excitement finally with our current home. Two different couples came by between Sunday and Tuesday to look. The first couple had just started looking but loved our home but they were still looking at some others as well. The second couple loved our home but wanted a garage and so they made an offer on the town home across the street! Real bummer! But Jennifer, our realtor really thinks things will pick up since it is crunch time with the tax credit. We will see....

I do not know if anyone checked out any of my recipes I posted on the last post or not but I am going to start posting more recipes we have tried out. We are really enjoying all of them and the GREAT factor is they are all under 500 calories. I will be posting some cooking healthier tips and what not's. I am also going to try to start really getting into the coupon clipping world so I will be posting some good links to good deals as well. This week will be the first week I am looking for some deals so I will report back on how that went.

As some of you know I love the planet and love Earth Day! It is coming up so you should really check out things in your neighborhood that might be going on for Earth Day. Also, you could always plant a tree in your yard or something like that. I have not made our plans yet but I will let you know what we do. It is April 22nd this year so do not forget. Here are some things going on here in Birmingham for us B'ham people to check out! Oh and one thing I know Justin and me are doing is going to see the movie "Ocean's" by Disney. It is going to be really cool and a portion of your ticket will be donated to Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, Disneynature and The Nature Conservancy who are helping establish new marine protected areas in the Bahamas. So you can see a movie and be helping out! For more information here is the website, Disney movie Oceans

Earth Day at the Gardens
Earth Day Parade and Celebration
Earth Day at the Botanical Gardens


Here is a really good recipe I made last weekend. Friday night we cooked out at Amy and Scooter's and I made a Bacon Cheese Dip for an appetizer and it was YUMMY!

Bacon Cheese Dip

Prep Time: 15 min. Cook time: 10 min. Ready In: 25 min.

Yields 16 servings

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon

1 (8 oz.) package, low-fat cream cheese, softened

1 cup light mayo

8 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded

2 green onions, finely chopped

4 ritz crackers, crushed

Directions:

1. Place bacon in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese with mayo until smooth. Stir in Swiss cheese, onions, and bacon. Place bowl in microwave, and cook 2 minutes. Remove, and stir well. Return to microwave, and cook 2 to 4 minutes more. Sprinkle crushed crackers on top. Serve warm with crackers.

**Ritz crackers were very good with this dip. Also pita chips could be a very good with this as well.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving Calories:239 Total Fat: 23.1 g Cholesteral: 38mg

-Compliments of allrecipes.com

Jumping into Spring!

Is it really the first of April already? I think someone has to be playing an April Fool's joke on me....hummmmm????

Well, here we are the first of April and like always our lives are running rampid all around us. We have been very busy these last few months. Still no progress on the house besides we have gone to our plan review, and both decorator meetings. Everything is offically picked out for our home. Now all we need is for them to start building it! Our close date is still set for June 30, but we are sure that will change since that is not that very long and like I said we don't even have a foundation yet. So we will see. We are just ready to see what it will turn out like. Now we know what we "hope" it will look like but you know it is nerve racking in the meantime because all we can think is "did we make the right choice?" But, we are hoping to see some progress soon though. Still no offers on our house but we aren't that concerned since signature will be buying it at closing of our new home if we still haven't sold our current home. But, it still would be very good if we could sell it on our on.

Justin has been very very busy at work lately. Working like a busy bee besides the fact he did get to play golf yesterday.....haha. Everything with his job seems to be going great still which is a blessing! My work is still going great! The boys are getting so big now and it's so much fun.

We have literally had something every single weekend here lately and our social schedule is not slowing down one bit until somewhere around June. WHEEWWW! I will need a vacation by then that's for sure. We have 5 people in our lives pregnant. Three gave birth within a week of each other and now we have 2 left. We have 7 or so friends getting married and we have only been to one wedding so far the rest are to come! So between actual weddings, wedding showers, baby showers, birthdays, and actual baby births we might have a day just to be lazy but not much. We are very blessed to have so many great friends in our lives so we do not mind being there for them at this time.

So as you can tell everything around the Rolling household has been great the only bump we have encountered lately happened to me last week! As some of you might know I, Kala Bass Rolling, has been WORKING OUT in the mornings before work, I repeat WORKING OUT! You all know I am not the most motivated person when it comes to excerise but I still haven't figured out where all this motivation has come from but I actually like it. :) So anwyays, back to the point of the story. So like I said I had gone to the gym that morning around 5:30 a.m. worked out for an hour and was getting ready for work at the gym when a girl came in and asked for a Kala Rolling. So I said, "Hey, that is me." She went on to say a police officer was up front and needed to speak with me. I started panicking immediately in my head. Why would a policeman need me? Has something happened to Justin? What could I have forgotten about that would cause police to be involved? So I went to face him and that's when I learned I had been the latest victim of a crime! Yep, some thug busted out my front passenger window and snatched my purse! I know I know, why in the world would my pruse be in the open for anyone to grab? I felt stupid because that is one thing my family has always said DO NOT LEAVE ANYTHING VALUABLE IN SIGHT! Which I always follow this rule and the one day I'm not thinking striaght I slip up and BAM it finally happens to me! :( I always have said I would not care if someone stole my purse because they would be very disappointed because I never have cash. Well that is still true except I did have $2 in my wallet. Haha. So ends up the criminal went to wal-mart used our credit card to purchase a t.v. immediately after stealing my purse and also went and filled up his car tank with gas. Luckily we got to everything else fast enough and our credit card company new something was weird so they were already in process of contacting us by then time we called them. Bad part was we had to pay $150 insurance deductible for my window to be fixed and I was without everything!!!! But this story does have a good ending at least! The thug stole a car the next day and got in a high speed chase with Vestavia police. He abandoned car and ran away. But, luckily for some reason he had my purse with my wallet still in it! Which is now still at police department. We should be able to pick it up today and keep your fingers crossed that everything is still there! We were informed yesterday that the low-life was arrested and now is facing 16 different charges, one being he resisted arrest and pushed an officer. So of course they had to beat him down with baton. HA! The officer thought we would like that! So he should be going to jail for a little while! YAAYY!

So that's our latest excitment. As I mentioned above I have been working out 3 times a week for 2 weeks now so keep thinking about me and hope I will keep it up. We also have been trying to eat healthy during the week. I will post the links to some of our favorites. I am reading a very good book right now called "The Self-Health Revolution", it's very good and really opens your eyes about what you eat. I know you are thinking it's one of those health nuts right? Actually it's not like that at all. Yes, they talk about healthy eating but it just tells you the scary truth about what we are putting in our bodies. It just encourages eating all natural food. If you didn't know you can still get good and eat snacky type food too. And that is what this book informs you about. What things are good and what is not. So you should read it, but beware you will get freaked out!

Have a great weekend and below are those recipes you should try out!

http://www.glamour.com/bbg/2010/turkey-chili
(I add bush's chili beans or kidney beans)

http://www.glamour.com/bbg/2010/spicy-chicken-skewers-and-roasted-vegetables

http://www.glamour.com/bbg/2010/turkey-burger-and-green-bean-fries

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/quick-recipes/dinner/6-quick-chicken-recipes/?page=6

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/quick-recipes/dinner/healthy-pizza/

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/quick-recipes/dinner/healthy-burrito-recipe/

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipe/turkey/caesar-turkey-wrap/

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipe/chicken/chicken-jambalaya/

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipe/chicken/spicy-chicken-pizza/

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipe/chicken/southwestern-chicken-stir-fry/

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/quick-recipes/dinner/easy-healthy-beef-recipes/?page=7

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/quick-easy/twenty-minute-meals-00000000028853/index.html

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/nutrition/the-you-can-do-it-diet-dinner-choices/?page=17

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/nutrition/the-you-can-do-it-diet-dinner-choices/?page=16

Keeping up with the Rollings.......

Again, time is flying by like always. Justin and I have been very busy lately and it's only getting worse each day! We have had so many big decisions and changes lately I haven't even had much time to tell anyone anything.

Justin received very exciting news about a month ago at work. His boss decided he deserved a very very nice raise which he agreed! Haha, so after that wonderful news we decided to put our house on the market to just do it. Shortly afterwards we decided to just start checking out neighborhoods and homes to get a feel for everything. So we found some homes and neighborhoods we really loved and so we went with our realtor to just browse. After going to one of our favorite neighborhoods we found out that the company that develops some neighborhoods in Birmingham called Signature Homes, which developed two of the neighborhoods we loved, offers a deal to some clients where they buy your home from you so you can build a new bigger home in one of there neighborhoods. So immediately Justin thought there had to be a catch somewhere but we were reassured by the agent that it cost nothing to just check to see if they would possible want to do the deal with us. So we said it wouldn't hurt to check. So our realtor and the agent swapped info and the agent said she would let us know if we would be able to get the deal. So that following Monday our realtor called us and told us Signature Homes had decided they would like to make a deal with us. She told me the details and I called Justin to tell him. Signture told us they wanted to buy our home and while we were building our new home we still could try and sell it on our own but at our closing on new home if our old home was not sold then they would buy it for the amount they offered. So after talking about it all we took the deal and we are currently going through the whole building a home process. We have had our first plan review meeting where we went over all the pre-framing stuff, this Friday we are having our first decorator meeting where we will pick out the exterior, floors, cabinets, and countertops. Our estimated close date is June 30th but could change depending on weather. Which it has been pouring rain all week so far so who knows. We haven't had much luck on people interested in our home but maybe someone will buy it but if not Signature is! :) So that's our current exciting news....I will be posting pictures as the house comes along.

So besides the house we are attending weddings, wedding showers, and baby showers. It has taken over my life and I literally have one of the 3 every single weekend until late June. Some of them are overlapping each other. So we are trying to make everythig possible! We have 5 people we are close to having children, includng Kris and Jeff. The remainder are all weddings and stuff. So we will be exhausted by the end of the summer to say the least.

Work is going good for us both which a major plus these days, so keep praying it will continue this way. We are hoping we can take a trip to somewhere for our anniversary but we will see.

We have been "trying" to eat healthy dinners and we like them so far. Some better than others. Of course I can not saty 100 % commited but I have to have my sweets! :)

A Winter Wonderland!

Justin, me, and 9 other of our friends went to Breckenridge, Colorado for 6 days. We have been wanting to go on a ski trip for a while now so we were very excited we finally had a trip booked.

We left January 5th out of Atlanta to Denver. Then we drove an hour and a half to Breckenridge. The scenary was unreal the whole way.

We finally arrived to our house we were staying at called "Pine Woods". The house was amazing with lots of perks. We had a hot tub, heated floors, fire place, movie room, and a game room.

We were worn out from traveling so we just hung around our house on Tuesday night. Then we had to be up early on Wednesday because some of us were taking ski lessons that morning at 9 am. Justin and I were 2 of us who had never skied before and would be taking lessons. We were both very concerned about me learning because we all know I am not the most athletic person ever. We ended up with a great instructor name Gene who had been skiing for 40 years. So he was a great teacher. Luckily we all picked it up right away, which we were all shocked. Gene told us we were the best first timers he had ever taught. No of us even fell the first time we went down the little bunny slopes that are used for practicing. So after lunchtime Gene thought we were all ready to try out some easy greens and take the ski lift. We all did great besides a few little bumps. Luckily Justin nor I fell! By this time in the day it was snowing for heavily you could not even see 200 feet in front of you. We were all like little children again because none of us have been in any weather like this. It was so cool and we were all covered in snow. We looked like walking snowmen.

After such a successful skiing day we all went back to the house and again enjoyed a night of relaxing at home. Luckily our house had a hot tub which we took full advantage of every morning and night.

Thursday morning we went back to try out our new skills. We were all feeling very confident which then was shot to never never land! It all started with us getting off the ski lift. I was sitting in between 2 of our friends and when we were supposed to get off they both went flying out leaving me no room to get off either. Well when around ski lifts they do not care if you can not get off because they still keep going. So I was then a few seconds later getting off then everyone else which caused me to be hit in the side of my right hip by the huge metal seat! Which then of course knocked me over in front of lots of people. Luckily it is very easy for me to get up on my own. So with a minor bump we all took off down some greens, which are supposed to be the easiest ones. Well myself and another one of our friends, Cassie, decided to lead the group down the particular slope names "Red Rover". Everything was going smoothly so far and everyone was a little behind Cassie and me because we were going really fast. As we continue to follow the signs pointing you to "Red Rover" I look over to Cassie because I notice that a part of "Red Rover", which we were coming up on at a pretty fast speed, appears to just drop off. I can not even see then end of it. Since it was only my 2nd day I of course began to panick. So I ask Cassie who is a more experienced skier what should I do? She reassures me it will be fine and just to "snowplow", a ski term which means to turn your knees inward which makes your ski's go into a backwards pizza slice. So as this steep hill approaches I am still going pretty fast and take her advice and just keep going. I then pass Cassie and go straight towards "Red Rover". As I am going down the scariest thing I have ever seen of course I begin to freak out because I am "snowplowing" and not slowing down one bit. Not to mention all the other people I am having to dodge going down also. Then I have to dodge an orange sign which is almost at the end of "Red Rover". I'm still flying down when I finally reach the bottom which then I have lost all control of myself and everything else. This is when I face-plant right into the snow! As I begin to lift my head up I see a lady and a boy come rushing over to me. Which at this point all embarassment is hitting me. For you all who know me I usually begin to laugh after I have hurt myself. So this is when the hysterical laughter begins and the 2 people are just staring at me like I am nuts. I quickly pull it together and they ask me if I am ok. I tell them I am fine and the guy says, "I do not think I ahve ever seen someone hit so hard and then start laughing." The lady then proceeds to tell me that one ski is behind me and my poles are in front of me. The she looks at me and says "Hunny you have to be careful." I just look at her like are you serious? Do you think I wanted to come flying down this hill and try and kill myself? But I just thank them and proceed to stand to find the rest of the group flying down and falling as well except for the ones who knew what they were doing. Needless to say we all got a great laugh out of "Red Rover". We never made it down that particular one without ever falling. "Red Rover" wore us all out that we only skied one other green before calling it a day.

So the next day we planned to go snowmobliling. It was a blast but a bit scary at times. Those things are very easy to turn over. Luckily none of us did that. We saw some great things and they had the huskies that they use for dogsledding there as well. They were so cute. Snowmobiling does not seem like it would wear you out but it does. It is a lot of work actually. So we were all exhausted went home and laid around.

As our week starting getting shorter and shorter we skied one last day which was the warmest day since we had been there. Justin and me were both tired and not feeling very confident skiing that day so we didn't ski for very long. Our last night there we ate at a great resteraunt called "Relish". It was great! I had elk for the first time and really enjoyed it.

So overall we had a wonderful trip and Justin and me are official skiers! We are hoping to go to a different ski town every year with our friends! So hopefully we will continue to improve. I am attaching more pictures from our trip! Enjoy!

Till next time..........