Let's just say.. I'm Bringing Sexy Back!

So if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you might have noticed that I have gain some weight that I wasn't planning on gaining after I stopped breastfeeding Walker. I have been trying to get the weight off but hasn't exactly been successful. I have tried diets, exercising by myself, walking with friends, going to the gym early morning with a friend and really anything you could think of that doesn't cost a lot of money. I was really down on myself because I couldn't get this weight off. I wasn't really in a good place either. I really wanted to get out of this runt I was in.

So one day I was talking to my friend, Diana and she said she had the same problem. She suggested that we should workout together and do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. We thought that we can work out together and check up on each other each day so we can motivate each other to work out and get back into shape. Let me tell you, Jillian isn't joking around. She is hard. I sometimes really do feel like I am going to die after I work out. But it is good! When I skip on working out, those days I am tired and don't want to do much. But the days I do workout I have more energy and feels better.

We decided that we wanted to do this 30 Day Shred in three months, one level each month. At the beginning of the month it is hard to get through the 30 minutes video without stopping but by the end of the month I can do most of it without stopping. It is still hard but feels good. Jillian really knows how to push someone to keep on moving and doing the workout video (that is why she is on the biggest loser as a trainer).

I didn't think that this was going to work or I wasn't going to be able to stick to it. But it really has helped me. It also has showed me that I don't have to spend tons of money to get results. I am still not to what I want to be but I am feel more confident about myself and also how I look in my clothes.

Left: Beginning of June | Right: Mid July

You can't really tell but in the left I weighed about 145 and now I weigh between 135-137. It is slow progress but is progress. I know that I am not going to drop the weight in a blink of an eye. It is going to take some work. And I am still don't have a flat stomach or no pooch or love handles but I am working at it and really getting ready to BRING SEXY BACK!!

♥ The Schroeder

Chicken Supreme

The sunday when my mom was here I decided to make chicken supreme. I have been looking at this recipe and have been wanting to do it for a while. I kept on telling Casey that I was going to do it and then it never happened. So on sunday I went into the kitchen thinking of what I should cook and it popped into my head! So I took a swing at it. I wanted to impress my mom and show her that I have really learned how to cook and am starting to love it. When she asked if I wanted her to help I told her I wanted to do it by myself and she was the guest so she shouldn't be doing much. Alex also came over for dinner since we were going to be leaving for bear lake that night after we dropped off my mom at the airport. The dinner turned out pretty good but not amazing.

We had green beans with it for the veggie but I still felt like something was missing. It was just dull and I don't know why until I thought about mashed potatoes. That is what it needed some mashed potatoes or some rolls or something of that matter. But anyways, it was still good and my mom was very impressed. She is glad that I am starting to love cooking. It was great spending some time with my mom. It was much needed! Love you mommy!

Here is the recipe:

Chicken Supreme
Makes 6 servings

1 large chicken
1 10.75-oz. can cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream
1 box stuffing mix

Cook and debone chicken. Cut into bite-size pieces. In a 9 x 13-inch pan, spread chicken evenly on the bottom. Cover chicken with cream of chicken soup. Spread sour crean on top of soup. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on box. Spread the stuffing on top of sour cream. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes and then uncovered for an additional 15 minutes.

Kung Pao Chicken

Continuing on cooking at least one meal a week has made me love cooking more and more. I actually enjoy it. Casey use to be the one that cooked most of our meals but now I am like no I wanted to cook this tonight or I want to cook tonight, What do you feel like? I even caught myself looking up recipes and also at cook books at the store trying to find a good chicken salda sandwich recipe. (if you know of a good one let me know PLEASE!) So I have came to a realization that cooking is much more fun then I thought it would be. But yes, there is the thing I don't like.. dishes. But I deal with it.

One of the meals that I have made lately was Kung Pao Chicken. It was delish! Casey and I love Asian food. One of our favorite meals that we have a lot is chicken fried rice. So I wanted to try something that is still Asian but wasn't chicken fried rice. So that is what I did. 

I found the recipe for Kung Pao Chicken in my Worldwide Ward Cookbook: Secret Recipes! At first I thought that it was going to be complex and I was going to spend most of the day on getting the food ready  for dinner. But it was very simple. Since it was very simple, I decided to make it a nice dinner. I cleaned up the apartment, cleaned the kitchen, and set the table before Casey got home from work. We then had a candle light dinner with each other. It was great being able to just talk to one another about our day and also to spend some time with each other. The Kung Pao Chicken turned out great!

Here is the recipe if you wanted to try it out.

Kung Pao Chicken

1 ld. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. light sesame oil or vegetable oil

3 Tbsp. green onions, chopped with tops

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 - 1 1/2 tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes (to your own taste)

1/2 tsp. powdered ginger (can use fresh-grated if preferred)

2 Tbsp. Rice wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 tsp. sugar

1/3 C. dry roaster peanuts

4 C. cooked rice, hot

Combine chicken and cornstarch in small bowl. Toss to coat chicken. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet or wok over medium heat. Add chicken. Stir-fry 5-7 minutes or until no longer pink in center. Remove from heat. Add onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and ginger to skillet. Stir-fry 15 seconds. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, combine vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar; stir well. Add to skillet. Return chicken to skillet. Stir until chicken is well coated. Stir in peanuts. Heat thoroughly, string occasionally. Serve over hot rice. Makes 10 servings.

Hope you try it and enjoy!

Breakfast for Conference

During Conference its a tradition to always have some sort of breakfast 

while listening to the morning session on Saturday or Sunday. 

Since Casey had to work on Saturday I made breakfast on Sunday.

We made Monkey Bread.

I grew up loving monkey bread 

and always wanted to be able to make it like my mom.

(which hasn't happened it..)

My mom makes the perfect monkey bread! 

And every time I try to make this PERFECT monkey bread, 

I forget to put something in, cook it to long or short, or something of that fact.

But I haven't given up on trying.

Sunday I thought it was going to be the day I would make 

the PEFECT monkey bread.

It didn't happen, but I am going to try again.

Still the monkey bread was good. 

It still had that delicious sugar and cinnamon taste.

Casey isn't a big fan of it because it is "too sugary."

Maybe one day his mind will change.

He still ate it thought. 

We ate half of it before I got to take a picture.
Shows you how good it was or how hungry we were.

YUM YUM YUM!!

I would so suggest making this and giving it a try.

Monkey Bread

4 cylinders Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits 

(10 regular size in each package. NOT EXTRA LARGE)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Put cinnamon & sugar in a large zip lock bag and mix. Place biscuits in bag, a few at a time, and shake until evenly coated. Place biscuits across the bottom and sides of a well greased 12" bundt pan. You will have about two layers of biscuits.

Sauce:

1 cube butter

3 tsp. water

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Melt butter. Add sugar, cinnamon & water. Mix well. Pour over biscuits. Can pour a little over the first layer of biscuits as you are putting them in the pan.

Cover loosely with foil as they will rise while baking. Bake at 350 for 35 - 45 minutes. May want to cook on a cookie sheet as it tends to boil over. Let cool a minute or so in the pan and then invert onto a plate and serve warm.

Hope you enjoy, because I know I do every time I eat them!

YUMMY!! :]

Saturday Dinner

You might think that meatloaf is gross but we think it is good.
So Saturday night I made meatloaf for us.

My meatloaf turned out pretty good.
It wasn't the meatloaf that was rock hard, it just feel apart.
I have made meatloaf before for Casey and I but this was a different recipe.
This recipe had a sauce recipe that just makes the meatloaf much better!
And if I so myself, I did a pretty good job on it.
I got the recipe from the book called WorldWide Ward Cookbook: Secret Recipes.
It is a great cookbook and it has some really good recipes.

The meatloaf

Inside

In addition to the meatloaf, we had some green beans.

Green beans are my favorite veggie. :]

If you are a meatloaf lover, you should try this recipe.

School Meatloaf

Meat: 

1 1/2 ld. ground beef

1 slice of bread, finely chopped

1 egg

1 small sweet onion, finely chopped

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

4 tbsp. ketchup

1/2 C. whole milk or half-n-half

Sauce: 

4 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

2 - 4 Tbsp. packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread, egg, onion, salt, pepper, ketchup, and milk or half-n-half. Place into a load baking dish. In a separate bowl, combine vinegar, brown sugar, and ketchup. Pour over top and sides of meatloaf. Bake at 350 for 60 - 75 minutes, or until done. You can heat a second batch of sauce to serve with the meatloaf. Makes 12 servings.

My tweaks to the recipe:

Instead of using bread crumbs I used oatmeal flakes. 

(My mom uses oatmeal flakes other than

 bread crumbs in her meatloaf.)

Hope you enjoy.!

Sunday Dinner

So I admit it. 

I am not the best cook ever. 

My mom always tried to teach me how to cook

when I was a teen but I always didn't want to.

Now I wish I took those cooking lessons.

Anyways, I have made a goal to myself that

I would cook at least one meal a week 

to improve on my cooking skills.

I then will post what I made

with the recipe and the results.

To start this adventure I got a sweet cookbook 

and picked our some recipes I want to try out.

Today we had...

 Root Beer Pot Roast.!

It wasn't bad at all. 

It was actually good!

It had this sweet buttery flavor

and just melted in your mouth.

Table set for dinner

The Roast

In addition to the Root Beer Pot Roast

we had mashed potatoes with gravy and rolls. 

We made the gravy out of the leftover root beet from the pot roast.

I actually liked the gravy which never happens.

My plate

Casey's Plate

I would request this pot roast to anyone that would want to try. 

Here is the recipe:

Root Beer Pot Roast

1 5lb. Black Angus pot roast 

Salt and pepper to taste

10 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

Olive Oil

36 oz. root beer, room temperature

1 -2 onions, optional 

Season roast on all sides with salt and pepper and set aside for 15 minutes while you peel and cut the carrots. Heat a frying pan and add just a touch of olive oil. Brown roast on all sides, just until you get that nice caramelized crispiness to the meat. Pour 1/3 of the room-temperature root beer into a slow-cooker. Add the meat carefully. Add the carrots and onions. Pour the remaining root beer over the roast and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Makes 10 servings.

My tweaks to the recipe:

Instead of...

10 carrots cut into chucks, I used about 2 carrots that were sliced.

1 -2 Onions, I used 1/2 of a sweet onion. 

It turned out great. 

I was proud of myself.

GO ME!