southwestern chicken and white bean soup

This is one of my favorite recipes from my Cooking Light cookbook and is so quick and easy that it's great for a weeknight meal. When I made it last night, we had a side salad with lots of delicious veggies:  squash, tomato, onion, and peppers.  We also had some of the Alexia brand garlic bread.  We were plump full and totally satisfied. 

Here's what you need for the soup:
*2 C shredded cooked chicken breast
*1 T 40% less-sodium taco seasoning
Cooking Spray
*2 (14 oz) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
*1 (16 oz) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
*1/2 C green salsa
Sour cream (optional)--I love the Daisy brand!
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Here's what you do:
Lightly coat a pan with cooking spray and add your chicken and taco seasoning.  Toss well to coat.  When the chicken is done, add your chicken broth and scrape the pan to loosen browned bits.

Drain and rinse your beans and mash them until only a few whole beans remain.  Add your beans and salsa into a pot and when the chicken/chicken broth is done, add that to your beans and salsa.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes or until slightly thick.  Then, add your goodies:  sour cream and cilantro.

Happy cooking! :)

pre-thanksgiving dinner!

Last night, a bunch of us girls got together for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. It was so good!  Everyone is a chef at heart.  :)  We were all super stuffed by the end and had plenty of leftovers to go around.

One of the exciting, new Thanksgiving treats we tasted was Kyla's Pumpkin Crisp.  Mmmm....here's the receipe.

1 can pumpkin (16 oz)
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)
1.5 C sugar
3 eggs
4 t. pumpkin spice
**Mix all these ingredients together and pour into a 9x13 pan.  Then drizzle the following ingredients on top.**
1 box of yellow cake mix (use less if you'd like)
1 C butter (melt and drizzle over the cake mix...again use less if you'd like)

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes! 

For someone who doesn't even like pumpkin things very much, this was amazing!  It didn't even taste much like pumpkin!  Thanks, Kyla for sharing such a yummy treat!

This was the perfect way to kick off the holiday's.  What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? 

celebrating sam!

Meet Samantha. I like to call her Sam.  She is hilarious, spunky and such a good friend of mine.  Both JJ and I miss and love her very much. :)  I met Sam my freshman year of college in a speech class.  I thought she was a cool girl.  She did a speech on some band--I can't remember which...and had a brand new baby sister.  The next year, my friend Kristy and I needed a room-mate and Sam was randomly placed in our room.  What a God-send. :)  We all hit it off right from the start and continued to room together throughout our college experience. 

Sam has taught me many things.  She introduced me to a delicious treat, Pickle Dip:  Pickles and cream cheese--what else could a person want?!  She never uses a coffee sleeve--it's bad for the environment, doesn't buy plastic water bottles--it's not helpful for the environment, uses her own shopping bags--good for the environment, and loves Jesus--the best thing for everyone.  :)

Sam also loves to go for walks.  We have walked many miles together laughing, analyzing and enjoying one another's company.  However, recently, Sam has starting running!  I think she's hooked. :)  Are you, Sam??  She will hopefully be my guest blogger soon to tell you her running story!

All in all, I miss you much, Sam!  I hope you're having a wonderful snowy day in MN!

Here's to you!  Let's celebrate our friendship!!  :)

our weekend of fun!

Wow...wow...wow...we just had the most fabulous weekend with JJ's Mom, Pam!  Thank you so much for coming to visit us! :)

Friday night, we picked her up and went to dinner at 310 Lakeside.  http://www.310parksouth.net/  Pam and I shared a delicious burger and a couple different salads, and JJ had a yummy sandwich.  We scored on this meal!

Saturday morning, Pam and I ran around our neighborhood and then she jumped on JJ's bike while I completed a long run for my half-marathon training.  What a beautiful day!

Saturday afternoon, we "fell into the Gap" and bought a Christmas present each and some cute tops for the Phil Vassar Concert!  Then, we picked JJ up and headed to the concert.  Please note that this was at 3:30 p.m.

We made it to our free concert around 5 p.m. (an hour before the doors were supposed to open)  However, we were the only ones there!  We even saw Phil rehearsing with his band!  After gathering more information, we found out that doors weren't going to open until 8 p.m. and the concert wasn't going to start until 10 or 10:30 p.m.!  What?!  Obviously we had some time to kill, so we took some pictures, went to Target and had some dinner. :)

After our dinner at Panera Bread, we went to the site of the concert and finally got in.  To our surprise, we also received BACKSTAGE MEET AND GREET PASSES!  We were going to meet Phil Vassar in person!

That we did!  We said hi, got our picture and went to brag to JJ. :)

The concert started and it was so much fun!  We met some real characters and enjoyed the musical talents of this country singer.

The two things that were missing....Brooke and Kaylie!!! Next time! :)

a quick and easy dinner!

Tonight JJ and I had a chicken and green bean pasta with a delicious vinaigrette.  The receipe came from my Cooking Light cookbook, but I made a few changes.

Here's what I did.  I cooked 1.5 cups of pasta (penne, bowties, whatever!) while I cooked 2 chicken breasts.  When the pasta is about 5 minutes from being done, add 1.5 cups of cut green beans.  While you're doing this, mix up an easy vinaigrette.  Combine 2 T. balsamic vinegar, 1 T. olive oil and 1 T. of water.  Then, add 1 T. of fresh basil and 1 T. of chopped red onion.  Then, mix this all together! :)

The original receipe calls for 1/4 C. blue cheese and 2 T. of chopped sun-dried tomatoes (packed without oil)--this is a part of the vinaigrette.  However, it was great without those things, too!

do you know phil vassar??

I do!  Phil Vassar is one of my favorite country performers.  He plays the piano, he sings, he's great.  And what's also great is that the Peterson girls love Phil, too! :) 

This weekend is a big weekend for the JJ Peterson.  JJ is attending his first country concert...unless he decides otherwise. :) 

JJ's Mom is even flying down for the concert! Yay!  We are so excited to have her visit.  We always have the best time.  I'm really thankful for such a super mother-in-law. :)  and father-in-law. :)  (we'll actually be seeing JJ's Dad on Monday!)

Now that Pam and I are both certified trainers, we'll be training one another. :)  No, really, we plan on enjoying the outdoors with a great run in this excellent weather we're having!  70's and sunny. 

JJ will have some non-stop energy coming his way with both of us in the house! :) Can't wait!

Phil, here we come!

track shack shoes

I am so excited to share with you my new shoes I bought yesterday at the Track Shack!  When we moved down to Florida, we stumbled upon this running store called the Track Shack.  The employees are super kind, obvious athletes, and very knowledgeable about which shoe is best for you.  They watch you walk, ask questions and fit you with a shoe that feels like running bliss.

Here's what I ended up with....

You can see my old shoe on the left, the orange New Balance...and my new shoe on the right, the blue Brooks.  Brooks is known for making excellent walking and running shoes.

When I brought in my old shoes to show them what I've been using, he definitely said it was time for new kicks.  My shoe was balding on the front part, which shoes obvious wear and that much use has been invested.  Because of this, he knows that the cushion and support of the shoe is breaking down, therefore causing my joints to ache.

I'm very excited to try these out tonight!  It's super light and feels like I'm walking on air.  :)  Hopefully I'll be that happy when I'm running!