Pasta-Free Spaghetti

Earlier this week I got a new kitchen gadget. What is it?? A Spiral Vegetable Slicer!! The specific one I purchased was the Paderno World Cuisine A4982799 Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer. (Mouthful, right?) Anyways, it was about $40 on Amazon.com and has over 2,000 reviews with 4 1/2 stars! This is something I have been itching to buy over the last few years, but never did... Well, now I can say that I have one!!

This is the first recipe I have tried using my Spiral Vegetable Slicer, so I started with a simple one. Spaghetti. I really wish I could say that the sauce is home made.... but I was too hungry and maybe just a little bit lazy.

I started out by sauteing half of a medium sized onion (chopped), and about a handful of mushrooms (also chopped) in a pan on medium heat. This is certainly not required, but I like mushrooms and onions so I added it.

While the mushrooms and onions were in the pan, I got out my 'spiralizer' and began making zucchini "noodles". I used 2 small-to-medium sized zucchini for this recipe.

Back over to the pan, when the onions were translucent and the mushrooms were cooked through, I poured a 24 oz. jar of Prego Traditional Pasta Sauce into the pan and turned the heat down to a low-to-medium temperature. 

Once the sauce was heated through, I added in my zucchini "noodles", and allowed them to simmer on a low heat until the "noodles" were nice and soft. 

This recipe was SO EASY, DELICIOUS, and took less than 30 minutes! I plan on making a home made pasta sauce soon, so that this meal is even healthier next time.

I have always struggled with maintaining my weight as long as I ate wheat products, so I avoid anything with wheat as much as possible. This dish is Vegan, wheat-free,  and gluten free. I'm so glad that I have this now so I can eat my spaghetti and not worry about the weight gain!

1 Year Later

Today Collin and I are celebrating 1 year since our first date! I really can't believe it has been a year! So much has gone on SO quickly! To celebrate, we decided to repeat our very first date, but added in a couple of things too.

First, we went to see The Lego Movie at the Galaxy Green Valley Luxury Theater. BEST IDEA EVER!! We loved the movie, and the seats were extremely comfortable.

Next, we got onto what we actually did for our first date. Casa Don Juan and the New York, New York Roller Coaster!! Both places were INSANELY busy last night, but what can we expect on a Saturday night?!?!? The food was delicious; however, Collin and I have a problem with filling our stomachs with the free chips and queso cheese dip and then not being hungry enough for our meal.... So we ended up taking the majority of our meal in a to-go box. Oh well, more for later, right???

Here are some pictures from last night :)

Next stop, the New York, New York Roller Coaster! The strip was unbelievably busy - just like usual.... and we got tired of the traffic so we ended up parking clear out behind the Exalibur. It was a little bit of a walk over to the New York, New York... but really wasn't that bad. When we rode the ride last year, it wasn't nearly as busy so this time we had to wait a little bit, but it was totally worth it! I get SO nervous on Roller Coasters and Collin doesn't help AT ALL!! This time his phrase was "You know if this cable snapped we would be the first to go since we are in the back". Can you believe that boy?!?!? Turns out everything was okay and I'm glad we went...

And here is the comparison from last year to this year!

I couldn't be happier with the man I chose to be my eternal companion. He's truly amazing and has done so much for me. Happy 1 year Collin. I love you!

Refried Beans

As many of you know, I have lost A LOT of weight over the last few years and the secret to my success? A Whole Foods, Plant Based Diet (or what I like to call "The Beans and Greens Diet"). Today, I am going to teach you how I make the (Refried) Beans in my "Beans and Greens Diet". 

Being a newlywed, I try to save money anywhere I can (and that DEFINITELY includes my energy bill) so I make Refried Beans with a Crock Pot! Here is what you need:

Crock Pot

2 1/2 Cups Dried Pinto Beans

7 1/2 Cups Water

Salt

Pepper

Pour your beans and water into your Crock Pot, add the salt and pepper (I just poured the salt and pepper in there until I thought it looked like enough), and stir it together. Turn your Crock Pot on HIGH and your beans will be ready in about 5 hours. If you plan on being gone all day, you can place the Crock Pot on LOW and it will take about 7-9 hours. 

To check the beans, taste them to make sure they are tender, but not falling apart. Once the beans are cooked, allow them to cool. (I only let mine cool for about 30 minutes) However, the longer you allow the beans to cool, the more liquid they will absorb and the creamier they will become.

After you have allowed the beans to cool, pour them into your blender and add a couple of scoops of the liquid. Blend until creamy. I added more salt and pepper to taste in this step. Then there you have it! Homemade Refried Beans!

I like to eat mine heated up in a bowl with a couple scoops of Salsa or Pico De Gallo, or put them in Romaine Lettuce and eat them like a grain-free, wheat-free, and gluten-free taco!

About Us

We're just 2 kids livin' in the big city, hoping to make it into a small town someday.....

Collin and I met in August of 2012 when he was assigned to be my sister and I's home teacher. I really didn't have any opinion of him the first time we met... he was just an average dude to me. It wasn't until January of the next year when he hit on me at a ward bowling activity and I pawned him off on someone else that I even considered MAYBE dating him. It was my New Years Resolution (so to speak) to get on more dates and I figured with Collin "Eh, I guess I could get a good time and a couple of cheese burgers out of this guy" that I decided to go for it. Well, after several good times and many more than a couple of cheese burgers later, Collin and I have been married for almost 4 months and together for almost a year now. Crazy how things work out, right??

Collin and I's first date was a blast! We ate at the restaurant Casa Don Juan and then headed over to the New York, New York hotel to ride the roller coaster. I am not much of a roller coaster kind of gal, so let's just say that I was a bit nervous..... :/   He caught on to this and just added to my nervousness. He made a couple of snarky comments like "Man, maybe we shouldn't have eaten before we came to ride this roller coaster!" and "Don't worry, they took out the loop... Ooops... uh-oh looks like they added it back in...". Needless to say.... I said, "Collin, you are an idiot!".  And that is when he fell in love with me...

Collin and I dated for 6 months, were engaged for 2, and have been married for almost 4 months now.

We were married in the St. George temple on November 2, 2013. Seriously the best day of my life!

We have thoroughly enjoyed being married and living in our own place. Our ward is awesome and our apartment is great. We even got a real Christmas tree! My family is pro-champ at finding Christmas trees in under an hour. This year we found 3 all in an hour (which includes leaving the house, finding the tree, and driving back). Like I said... champ, right??

We just celebrated our first Valentines Day together this last week. We didn't want to be in too big of a rush on actual Valentines Day after Collin got off work, so we stayed home Friday night. I made Collin his favorite fast-food Dominican dish called a "Yaroja" (pronounced: ja-ro-ha), basically the Dominican Republic's version of  Carne Asada Fries. We drank Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider, and then watched the movie "Casablanca", which happens to be one of Collin's favorites.

 Our BIG Valentines date was celebrated the next day by eating at the Italian Restaurant "Bootleggers" and seeing the show Jersey Boys here in Las Vegas. It was AMAZING! 

Please excuse the fact that they took this picture as I was beginning to blink, but it's the only one I have!!

February 23rd marks 1 year since our first date, and we plan to do the same thing we did then, Casa Don Juan and the New York, New York Roller Coaster. :)