Connie's Kitchen: The Younger Face of Mesothelioma by Heather Von St. James

I was contacted by Heather Von St. James, a blogger as well but more importantly a courageous cancer survivor and mother, about sharing her story on my blog to raise awareness for Mesothelioma. I would like to dedicate today's "Connie's Kitchen" post to her and share a guest blog written by her. My sweet beautiful mother died on March 23rd 2011 when she lost her battle with cancer. She was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma (malignant primary brain tumor) and was gone from this world exactly 1 week later. There were signs leading up to her diagnosis but they were confused by the fact that she had Multiple Sclerosis and the fact that we had no clue what signs and symptoms to look for. Brain tumor was not part of our vocabulary. Early detection is the key with any form of cancer and knowing what to look for can save your life. Heather battled a different form of cancer than my mother but it was that terrible disease all the same. She contacted me in the hope that sharing her story could raise awareness and save lives. I hope we both can help someone out there by sharing these stories...Heather's is below and if you want to check out her blog please go to: http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather/

The Younger Face of Mesothelioma

You have cancer . . .

That one statement is enough to horrify you deeply. I heard these words at what was supposed to be my life's shining time. I had a 3 1/2 month old daughter, and I was being told that I had malignant pleural mesothelioma -- it was caused by asbestos exposure.

Most people wonder how I got cancer from asbestos. Wasn't that banned? Then, they want to know where I came across asbestos. Firstly, no. It was not. Secondly, I got it from breathing in the particles on my father's clothing. His construction job put him in contact with asbestos regularly. He brought little bits of it home with him on his work clothes and I would often wear his jacket outside to feed our rabbits.

I was diagnosed at age 36 and learned that the Mayo clinic only knew of one other instance of a person as young as myself being diagnosed with malignant plural mesothelioma. It has a tendency to occur in older males who have worked around asbestos. Their wives often got it too, from cleaning their husbands clothes. There were also women who worked in buildings with asbestos. The next wave of mesothelioma patients included people like me. People who went to school in buildings with asbestos were getting sick. People who were the children of the male workers who handled asbestos were being diagnosed with cancer. People who had decided to play with insulation as children were learning that it made them ill. These children are now grown and are the newer, younger face of mesothelioma.

As I have spent more time with people like me, I am meeting other individuals who are in their 20's and 30's and are fighting for their lives. Many of these people are starting marriages, having babies, starting careers and their lives are taken over by mesothelioma and its treatments. Thankfully, the treatments are getting better and patients young and old are beating this cancer.

Of course, learning you have cancer is earth shattering. Nonetheless, I am hopeful, as are a great deal of other mesothelioma sufferers. We are a community of people who share our stories, help lift each other up, grieve together when treatment is not helping and celebrate together when it is.

Through all of this, why do I do this? Why do I get my tale of cancer out there? I do it so people will be aware of what is happening. If no one knows, how will things get any better? If I can show someone who has just been diagnosed that it is possible to be a survivor or alleviate someone's fear, than I have done what I aimed to do.

Farmhouse Fried Chicken....

So I tried to make this meal on Tuesday night but Lily wasn't havin it.
After daycare her and I went to the store to get everything we needed. We rolled up and down the aisles while she babbled and cooed. She says  "dada" now all the time. She just starred at the items on the shelves going by saying; "dadadaadadadadadaaaaadadadaaadadaaaa" and trying to stretch her feet out so she could touch things with her toes.

We grabbed the chicken and buttermilk, onion powder and vegetable oil, we got baby girl some more diapers and I debated for about 5 mins if I wanted to buy her some toys in the baby aisle . (You can't  leave me alone in a baby store or even the baby aisle, I will buy something fun for Lily every time even though I just went in there for diapers or formula)
So we get back home and I lay out all my supplies on the counter. Its almost 6pm at this point and Nick is running late so its just me and Lily. I keep looking at the clock because I want to start dinner but I don't want to just put little Lily in a baby seat after being at daycare all day. So I play with Lily and give her a bottle..it's a little after 6 now and she is getting cranky....uh oh. So now the big question....with it being so close to bed time, do I let her nap for a bit or try to keep her up? I let her nap. Bad idea. Cranky Pants McGee wakes up and cries for 5 mins and then is wide awake and read-day to party. This baby proceeds to giggle and coo and want to play until 8:30pm. Her bedtime is 7ish. So the good news is we got to spend more time together but the bad news is I didn't get to make my fried chicken and Lily is still going to wake up before 6am even though she went to bed late and then she will just be cranky in the morning. Silly Lily.
But look how cute she is......

So since I didn't get to make this meal that night, I did make sure to put the chicken in the buttermilk and spices so it could soak overnight. I put the soaking chicken away in the fridge and became even more determined to make this meal the next night.
I was inspired by my current show to create this dish. Fried chicken is such a terrific comfort food and it's a country style meal so it made me think of the farmhouse in Night of the Living Dead. Then I thought about how much I love chicken and waffles and wished there were a place like Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles here in DC...(1 delicious waffle and 1 succulent breast please! ) The crispy salty fried chicken with the soft, cakey, and sweet waffle is pretty awesome. So I thought, why not make a sweet sauce to go with my fried chicken and why not try to make it blood red to go with my Night of the Living Dead themed meal.
So I came up with:
Farmhouse Fried Chicken and Onions with a Bloody Berry Sauce

for the chicken and onions:

4-6 pieces of chicken-I used drumsticks because they are the best part of the KFC bucket
1 med size onion-sliced into rings
buttermilk
paprika
chili powder
red pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
black pepper
salt
hot sauce
flour
vegetable oil


In a bowl or sturdy freezer bag, pour in about 3 cups of the buttermilk. You want to make sure its enough to cover the chicken and onions. Mix in a few dashes of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, a pinch of red pepper, a little (or a lot) of hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Add your chicken and sliced onion and let sit for at least 30 minutes. (I soaked mine overnight to get some more flavor in there.)


While the chicken is soaking you can make the sauce. 

4 heaping spoon fulls of Cherry Preserves
1/2 cup Elderberry Vinaigrette (but a nice raspberry would be great too because you probably won't find elderberry at the store)
a handful of Blackberries (raspberries would work perfectly as well)
1/4 cup white wine

combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and cook on med high until it boils. Stir often. Turn down heat to med or med low and let simmer for several mins.

Back to the Chicken....
In another freezer bag or a brown grocery bag, add two cups flour, several dashes each of paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, salt and pepper. Add a little red pepper and mix. Drain chicken and onions and then add to flour mixture. Shake until everything is really well coated.
In a large pan heat oil until very hot. Add enough oil so that the chicken is covered half way. Add chicken and onions but be careful not to overflow the pan.Cook for 12-16 minutes depending on the size of the pieces and flip occasionally. Really keep a close eye on that pan because that oil can get out of control quick and you might need to adjust the heat.

remove onion as they get done and let sit on paper towel to soak extra grease. They probably only need to cook for 5 mins or so.
once chicken is done, let it sit on paper towel or a rack to drain grease as well.

I served my sauce on the side and also baked some biscuits and steamed some green beans. You could put the sauce on everything too! It was especially great if you dipped your biscuit in it.

This Farmhouse Chicken and Onions with Bloody Berry Sauce was to die for! ;) I think Mom's fruit plates are a nice touch of country as well. Enjoy!

Stumbling Back to the Farmhouse...

So rehearsals have begun on my next exciting theatre project. I will be playing Barbara in NightoftheLivingDead the Musical by Stephen Gregory Smith and Matt Conner.

Photo by Stephen Gregory Smith

I started the journey with this show over two years ago or well maybe even three years ago when Stephen and I first met. Stephen and  I met a few years ago when we played Rob and Laura in High Fidelity the Musical.

High Fidelity photo by Amanda Williams

During the rehearsal process we discovered we both share a love for horror films and backstage one night while probably quoting Billy the Kid vs Dracula...

Stephen let me know he has been trying to write a musical adaptation of Night of the Living Dead. 

From that point on we must have brought up this idea again and again almost every night. I had no clue at the time how very serious he was about completing the script. 

We would joke about him and I playing Kira and Sonny in Xanadu and him writing Rosemary's Baby the Musical for me to play Rosemary, so at first I thought it was just one of those fantasy shows you always talk about when you are backstage dreaming of other shows you want to do. The next thing I know Stephen, Matt, and I are sitting in Stephen's apartment and they are really writing this thing! It was amazing to be there and see it happen. It was incredible to hear Stephen's ideas, have him ask me what I thought about staging ideas and drafts of the script and to be sitting next to Matt at a piano while he worked out a melody or vocal line. The pair wrote the show in record time and then all of a sudden there is a mega kickstarter campaign and then we are work shopping it. Now, a lot more happened in between but it really came together so quickly because of everyone's passion for the piece. 

Jump to 2 years later and Stephen and Matt are celebrating the NYC and DC premieres of their show all in the same year and I am finally playing Barbara in a full stage production that will open Halloween Weekend in Kensington Md.
I just had my first child 5 months ago so getting back into the rehearsal and performance process is on one hand exciting but on the other stressful.

my sweet sleeping angel baby

I have a little girl at home who isn't sleeping through the night yet, a full time job, and I am adding a show into that mix. Its a lot but I have to do this show. It has too much of my heart so I have to make this work.
I haven't been on stage in a year and in theatre years, that is like 3. When you are out of the loop that long, it feels like an eternity.  I am out of shape and overweight. I am at a certain age where I might not be young enough to play the leading 20 something anymore and its a strange place to be because I don't look old enough to play the Mom roles yet either. I honestly am wondering sometimes where I fit in this world anymore.
We have just started the first rehearsals and everyone is in that slightly awkward stage of the process where you don't know each other but you are thrown together in this very intimate situation. You are playing husbands and wives and boyfriends and girlfriends with complete strangers and trying to learn your music and lines and not look like an idiot or hit wrong notes.
I personally hate the "getting to you know stage" when I meet any one new or the "getting to know you again" stage when see someone again after a long time away. I just don't know what to say and so I usually end up saying something stupid or cracking weird jokes. Hence last night at rehearsal......

I show up and run into several good friends of mine that I haven't seen in months. Another company happens to be rehearsing in the room next to ours. I was thrilled to see some of my favorite people but after being home with Lily for so many months and just working and being a Mom, I just don't know what's going on. When that happens its like verbal diarrhea for me. I am plucking topics out of thin air and saying things that I don't even mean sometimes, I also get too personal and tell things about my life sometimes that I probably shouldn't. Its all an ADD overload and it has me looking at the clock hoping its time to start my rehearsal so I can have something else to focus on and avoid anymore awkward moments....but don't worry readers, there will be more awkward moments...like this gem....

Mid rehearsal, deep into learning a pretty challenging song (especially for anyone who is new to the show) I decide to chime in. I wanted to maybe ease everyone's minds and let them know that once they learn this section, this theme comes back a couple more times.  So when you learn it once, you basically have learned 3 songs in one. Well instead of explaining that in a way that actually makes sense to everyone I say this.....

"Hey guess what, once you learn this one, it comes back again and again so you know it. Yup, you just learn it and forget it, its like the baby in the tire....."

silence.... no one knew I was pulling a quote from Waiting for Guffman- maybe the greatest movies about community theatre ever made.....

I look up from my score and everyone is starring at me.

"It was a quote............from Waiting for Guffman.....you don't know it?"

ugh! Awkward. If they knew the movie they didn't know that one. So we move on......

But I can't let it go so throughout the night I just say; "Yup like the baby in the tire" at random moments just for my own amusement and to add to my awkwardness. Good times. "Baby in the tire" is the new "awkward turtle" just FYI.

Trust me, that wasn't my only weird moment of the night (like when I just blurt out to someone that I probably have adult ADD because I can't remember people's names and that my husband has ADD and he thinks everyone has ADD. Mine isn't as bad as his but I probably do have it.......and it went on like that)
but I survived to write another blog and hey, at least I didn't toot in front of everyone because that has happened in my life......a few times....

Stay tuned here as I am sure I will have more stories like this to share with you. Awkward moments aside, rehearsal was tons of fun. Its going great and I can't wait to see how the show develops. Also check out Stephen Gregory Smith's article in DC Metro Theatre Arts. He will be chronicling this journey as he directs and molds this show for the DC Premiere.
Lastly, I will be making a NightoftheLivingDead inspired dinner tonight.....recipe and pictures will post later.

Connie's Kitchen: "Doing it for Connie!"

My Mother and Father always supported my dreams of being a singer/actor. They didn't always know how to give me advice or guide me to fullfill this dream but they were always my biggest fans. 

A lot of people in my life actually just have no clue what its like to be a professional singer or why anyone would ever want to get up on stage in front of people. Its takes a very special kind of person to pursue this type of career...and when I say "special", I mean crazy. This insane passion I have had to be part of the even more insane entertainment industry has taken me to some pretty weird and wild places along the way and my parents supported me and followed me on this journey through it all. They have seen me play princesses and zombies.  They have been there for starring roles like Spider Woman to the smallest chorus role. They have traveled to big opera houses in southwest VA and small black boxes in Adam's Morgan. Sometimes they loved a show and sometimes my Mom would take me aside and tell me "well you did ok but you hit a couple wonky notes in the middle." 

Performing in High School 

Sometimes she would scream for the actors in my shows like they were famous stars. She even chased one down the sidewalk in the middle of Washington DC with her arms in the air, yelling his character name. She just had to give him a hug.
Of all the shows my parents have been to, some of  most memorable for me would have to be some of the shows I did in Adam's Morgan with a company called Landless Theatre Company.
I actually didn't tell my Mom and Dad about the first show I did in Adam's Morgan. Debbie Does Dallas the Musical was one of the best experiences on stage I have ever had. To this day I ache to do that show again but for obvious reasons, I didn't give my folks all the details about that one. However, it was actually very very tame and I wish they had come to see it.
 My parents trekked out to Adam's Morgan finally when I did Walmartopia. I played a few small roles but more importantly, I choreographed this one. I was nervous for them to come so far and to a part of DC that is nothing like the shiny, open, family friendly area with all the museums and memorials. Adam's Morgan is an amazing part of DC. Its an artist's district. Its colorful, gritty, loud, full of culture and amazing food and most notably a huge bar scene. You might have to park down a dark, narrow street where rats cross your path and the smell of trash and fryer grease mingle so I was a little worried about them coming to this part of town.
My sweet amazing parents made the trip to see me perform there many times actually but the first time will stick with me forever. I made sure to give them directions and explain the parking situation. I made sure to describe exactly how to find the theatre and what the space was like and then I made sure to tell everyone in the show that my Mom would be in the audience. I actually always did this because my Mom could be really loud in the audience and she ALWAYS gave standing ovations even if she was the only one standing. Mostly though I told everyone because I always got everyone to agree that we were "doing it for Connie!". I LOVED having her in the audience and so did everyone else!
The lights go up and the band begins to play. The cast enters the stage and we dance and sing the opening number.

Walmartopia-photo by Amanda Williams

 In still moments I scan the audience looking for my Mom and Dad. I see my Mom sitting there about 3 rows up in the center. She is clutching her purse like someone could steal it at any moment and she has a strange look on her face, kind of like a scowl. I take the time to check on her during that whole first number, which was 8 minutes long. Her position and face did not change. I was terrified. I was sure she hated everything about the show and the theatre and the whole experience. I have never seen her like this in the audience.
I went back stage and told my cast mates; "guys, Connie hates it, I think she hates it!"

The next number comes on and in this one I am dressed up as a man with a suite and mustache and everything so I am really hoping she thinks that is funny. 

Walmartoptia-I am the blond in the middle

We enter and my Mom has not changed position but then we begin to sing and dance and I catch her smiling. Next she is laughing and her death grip on her purse has loosened. I was so relieved!
During the rest of the show she is smiling and seeming to have a great time. Whew!
From that point on my parents came to see every show I did with that company and actually asked to come see Evil Dead the Musical before I even told them I was cast in it. I had borrowed their car and left the cast recording in their CD player. My Mom called me after listening to it and was dying to see the show. I warned her that its about "zombies" and the audience gets sprayed with fake blood and its a little crazy but she still was dying to see it. Thankfully I got cast and she had a great time.

Evil Dead-photo by Amanda Williams

Over the years my parents must have seen almost 100 of performances and whenever they came I made sure the whole cast knew we were "Doing it for Connie!"
I am beginning rehearsals now for my next project. Night of the Living Dead the Musical is a show that is near and dear to my heart. It was written by my dear friends, Matt Conner and Stephen Gregory Smith, and it will be one of the most challenging shows I have ever been cast in.

 I so wish my Mom were here to see this one but even though she can't physically be sitting in the audience, she is always with me and I am always doing every performance for Connie.

So when rehearsals start for shows, time after work to eat a healthy dinner is very limited. Sometimes there just isn't time for dinner or you just have to grab something fast but I have learned to make meals in preparation for a rehearsal week and then I have left overs that I can heat up fast or even take with me to rehearsal. Night of the Living Dead started music rehearsals last Monday so I made a big crock pot of chicken cacciatore to last for a few days. This recipe is so very easy. You just throw it in the crock pot and forget about it for a while and then when its done you have the most tender tasty chicken and its super healthy.
I will be blogging about my experience with this current show and sharing recipes I make during the week so I hope you enjoy going on this ride with me. Night of the Living Dead opens Halloween weekend in Kensington Maryland-hope to see some of you there and I hope you enjoy this delicious recipe that my Mom taught me (I spice it up a little though in the recipe below). When you make it...Do it for Connie!

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

1 large onion, sliced
6 Chicken thighs-but I use breast meat too
6oz no-salt-added tomato paste
1/4 t of pepper (i use alot more)
1/2 t of garlic powder (i use probably 1 T and then also add 2 T of minced garlic)
1 t oregano
1 t basil
1/2 cup white wine
2 T red wine vin
1 can diced tomatoes (I used the Hunts with olive oil, oregano, and basil)
salt to taste-optional
sliced red and green bell pepper-optional

Place onion in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place chicken on top. Combine the rest of the ingredients and pour over top. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Once the cacciatore is done, you can eat it over rice or noodles if you like. I used low carb macaroni noodles and sprinkled some shredded Parmesan over the top.

Home Cookin' from Herndon

Since I posted an early Connie's Kitchen this week, I decided to share a recipe from my Sister in-law today instead. Danielle and Chris, my brother and sister in-law, really enjoy cooking and grilling. With four kids at home, they get pretty creative on a budget and I love that. I also love that they are introducing their children to all kinds of foods and not just chicken tenders, fish sticks, hot dogs...ya know typical kids go to's. 

Their kids get to eat Ribs, pork tenderloin, pasta dishes, casseroles, and they always try to work in veggies to balance out the meal. A couple of their children even love spicy food and will eat jalapenos! I love it! I have watched their youngest son eat a jalapeno, twist up his face like "oooh that's hot", and then ask for another one and do that over and over again. It is priceless. 

So Danielle and I text a lot. We love to swap pictures of our kids and recently we have been sharing pictures of the food we have cooked. She texted me the other day about a new dish she thought up and took the time to take pics and send me the recipe so I could make it myself. It sounded so good I just had to share. She made sour cream corn bread, a meaty broccoli and cheese mac, and sweet tea. Sounds like a little bit of southern heaven in the summer time. (said with thick southern accent) AND SHE ADDED BACON! 

I think this meal is a perfect sunny summer Friday treat. 

Sour Cream Corn Bread

-just check out the image below for the recipe. So cute!

Next up is what I have named:

 Meaty Broccoli Mac

Take a pack of ground beef and cook and season with garlic powder, minced onion, and paprika. 

Cooked frozen broccoli, chopped. Set meat and veg aside.

Fry bacon, drain fat. 

She used the noodles from a store bought Mac and cheese (could use regular elbow macaroni). Made the rue in the pan She fried the bacon in. To make a rue- 6 TB each butter and flour, 3 cups milk, melt butter, add flour bring to boil making sure to keep stirring so it doesn't burn. Add milk. Boil. Add cheese (3 cups shredded sharp cheddar) add spices to taste, She used garlic powder, salt, smoked paprika, minced onions, garlic pepper and some ranch dressing. 

Mix the chopped broccoli, and noodles with the meat, add sauce.

Enjoy with some delicious sweet tea!

Sweet Tea

 Use a 1 gallon pitcher. Boil water and 6 tea bags, for 5 minutes. Pour in pitcher, add 2 cups sugar, stir to dissolve. Add cold water to fill pitcher. Cool in fridge or poor over ice. 

Connie's Kitchen-Special Edition: Mom's Recipe Box

I am writing a special early Connie's Kitchen tonight because I finally got my hands on a very special item that belonged to her.

Shortly after we lost my Mom we started doing that whole process of going through her belongings. We didn't waste a lot of time doing this. I think my sister, Dad, and I did better keeping busy and just doing those things you have to do. We just did and went and arranged and organized and did what we had to do because we couldn't sit. When you sit too long you think too long and it felt better doing. So when you are going through a loved one's belongings there are always items that hold a special place in your heart like certain pieces of jewerly (my sister wears my Mom's anniversary band) or certain clothing items which my Mother had a ton of! We started slowly sorting through the many many MANY boxes of my Mom's shoes, the many many colored capris, tons of camis and cardigans, all her headbands and braclettes, and belts and hand bags. My Mom was a very stylish lady and always had on the perfect little outfit and accessories.  Somethings are enjoyable to see again and spark a happy memory and bring up a story that you share. Other items are harder to see and touch again like a hair brush or her glasses. Those things cut too close and they can't be given away but its also hard to keep them as well so they are boxed for later. I have a few very specials things that were my Mom's like the braclette and shoes she wore on my wedding day but a little jewel I just got my hands on might mean even more to me. That special item is my Mom's recipe box. My Mom wasn't in love with cooking like I am but she cooked us warm family dinners every night and amazing baked goods every holiday season and my love for cooking was sparked by her. She saved passed down recipes or things she learned from friends on index cards and scraps of paper and organized them in a box. It was originally this little brown plastic tupperware tub and I will always remember sorting through it every Christmas season when Mom was ready to bake and she asked; "What do we want to make?".

The plastic tub as graduated to a simple but pretty wooden box. Her recipes are still there with her wispy handwriting on each one, fading and crinkled and beautiful.

 I believe this is my prized possession and I will forever keep it safe and keep it just as it is. From time to time I will write a true Connie's Kitchen post and make something special from her box, from her kitchen. So stay tuned for recipes from the real Connie's Kitchen.

Connie's Kitchen: Green Chippies and Mayonnaise Sandwiches

Here is another edition of Connie's Kitchen.

My Beautiful Mother's Senior High Photo

Its no secret that my family and I love food but we have all had to buckle down and work hard to keep the pounds off over the years. A general theme in my life right now is trying to lose this baby weight. I just started working out again and I have been cooking healthy meals so I am on the right track. When I was a little kid I could eat whatever I wanted. I was so skinny that everyone called me "Bean Pole" and my Mom let me eat anything I asked for. I remember Klondike bars every night after dinner. Mashed potatoes were probably served with dinner 2 times a week at least. My very favorite thing in the world to chow down on though were "Green Chippies". Green chippies were "Nibbles With Gibbles" brand chips in sour cream and onion flavor. They came in a light green bag and the chips themselves sometimes had a green tint from the flavoring. It was nothing for me to sit down and eat a whole bag, and I was so skinny that no one had a problem with it. I do not blame my Mom at all for letting me indulge. We ALL loved green chippies!

She wanted my sister and I to enjoy all the things she never had, and having food readily available was rare for her growing up. She even took me to the doctor when I was probably 5 or 6 because she was worried about how skinny I was. So bring on the green chippies!
Yes, in hindsight there were much healthier ways of putting some weight on but I was a kid and kids love junk and Mom loved us and wanted us to be happy. And I love her so much for that. She also made balanced meals liked baked chicken and green beans, vegetable stew was a favorite, and fruit salad was available all summer.
However, the green chippies caught up with me in the 4th grade and weight started coming on, and fast. So Mom took me back to the doctor to talk about what to do about me being so overweight. The doc said I was obese and that i should focus more on eating fruits and veggies. I also picked up on her talking about cutting back on lunch meat in my sandwiches..but never heard her mention not eating mayo.....hmmm

For the next few years after that weight was a big topic in my life. Mom tried to help me by having me do sits ups and push ups before I could have snacks. The picture above is of me in about 5th grade playing with my little cousin so you can see why she was trying to get me on the right track. She got me into sports like softball and tried to get me to cut back on portions and fatty foods. She would literally have me drop and give her 20 before eating a cookie and I say good for her! During that time I was a little confused about what all this meant and what fatty foods were. I remembered the doctor mentioning lunch meat and cheese was bad so I thought well OK! and started eating mayonnaise sandwiches as my light snack. Sometimes I would have a few "light" mayo sandwiches a day. Remember, the doc never mentioned mayo so....

Needless to say the weight kept coming on and soon I was shopping in the JC Penny Husky Kids catalog. When Mom found that it was pretty exciting because we were running out of places I could shop and still wear kids style clothes!! Thanks Husky Kids and thanks Mom!

Well, as a family we all grew up and started figuring out what healthy eating really was. My Mom even learned a ton about cooking low fat and low salt before she passed away and I learned a lot from her.

So when I was a kid one of my favorite things she used to make, that wasn't all that healthy but I still love, was spaghetti with meat sauce. It was simple. You brown ground beef, pour in a jar of Ragu, and boil a box of Giant brand spaghetti and you had one happy little chubby kid at your table asking for seconds.
So in honor of my favorite meal Mom made when I was a kid- I am making Spaghetti with Meat Sauce tonight for dinner but I do a much healthier version.
I won't go into the details because we all know how to boil water and heat up sauce. I will tell you that I use ground turkey instead of ground beef. I season the turkey with garlic, salt/pepper, and oregano and add that to a jar of my favorite store bought sauce. I usually spice that up too with more garlic, dash of red pepper, and a little red wine vinegar.
For noodles I use Dream Fields brand pasta noodles. Its low carb, so great, and tastes really close to the real thing. Its a little more expensive but worth it to me.
So that's it. Its a rainy cool Friday here in NOVA so comfort food is on the menu tonight.

Enjoy something warm and tasty tonight and tell the people you love that you love them often!

Here's me now with my little family. I love you!

Asian Cabbage Salad for my Boo Erin

So my Friend Erin is a veggie and has been reading the blog.....thanks Erin! Unfortunately for her, I am a major carnivore but she has enjoyed some of my side dishes. So just for her I am sharing one of my very favorite veggie main courses. This recipe is so quick and easy and so delicious that you will want to make it all the time. I was shocked how good it tasted the first time I made it because the thought of eating a plate of raw cabbage didn't sound that great to me. BUT I got hooked and so did Nick. We love this one. Its also so versatile that you can add extras to it like chicken, peppers, onion, chow mien noodles, and more. I guess you could add bacon too!
Another exciting thing about this recipe is it is super healthy. I believe I learned this one from a south beach cook book and by cooking this way I have lost another pound! yay! So far I am down about 28 lbs since I had Lily. Another.....18 to go to get to pre-pregnancy weight and another 20 after that to get to where I really should be so this is going to be a long journey. I have pretty much another 40 lbs I want to lose so you can see why I share lots of healthy recipes but like I have said, you can always jazz them up even more if you want a more indulgent version. While I am talking about weight I want to plug a great website/app called "My Fitness Pal". It has helped me lose my last 11 lbs in just a couple months. If you are on a weight lose journey like me- check it out! Its free and so easy. It is just a no brainer way to count cals, log in exercise, and get support from other "pals". If you have heard of the live strong site, its pretty much the same thing. The thing that makes this work so well is it's pure math....based on your height, weight, and lifestyle, it calculates how many cals you need to eat a day to lose the weight you want to lose. You log in everything you eat ( that part is super easy you can even snap a pic of the bar code on a food product and zip zip its logged in) and the app does the math for you. Huge fan-check it out-"My Fitness Pal".
So back to cabbage.....
I don't have any snap shots of this meal because I made it so fast and just ate it right away! I totally forgot to take pictures! However I have a another half of the head of cabbage if you really want to see pics....but I am sure you can just imagine it. I do have some fun pics of Lily though. Here is Lil playing with a burp cloth...

and here is one I am calling the poopy ballerina...

So Here is the recipe....


Asian Cabbage Salad
1/2 of 1 head of green cabbage
about 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
about 1 T of sesame oil
pinch of sea salt
sesame seeds

So take your head of cabbage and clean it up and chop it up. I julienned mine but you could chop it up how you like. Then in a small bowl mix up rice wine vin and sesame oil. Drizzle over cabbage and if you think that is too much or too little, you can adjust that. Use however much you want. If you don't taste enough sesame oil in the end, you can drizzle a tad more on. Think of that little mix like your salad dressing so use what you like. Then add a little sea salt and shake some sesame seeds over the salad and toss.
That's IT!
 This week I added that left over Asian chicken I made a few days ago, some chopped red pepper, and chow mien noodles. It was amazing! and now I am 1 lb smaller.

Connie's Kitchen: These Pork Chops are Sharp!

I am a little late posting this which makes me feel a little guilty but better late than never.

So here is another edition of Connie's Kitchen and I am going to share another one of her magazine recipes and a memory.

If you knew my Mom you knew she was a very special lady with her own way of saying and doing everything. She was just full of sayings and nick names for everyone and also known for mispronouncing words all over the places. Some memorable sayings were; "It's too hot for the pickles" and "I got the fever". My Mom renamed my husband "Nick Nack Paddy Wack", my brother in-law became "Justy Boy", at one point my name was "Sissy Bob" and my sister Lindsay was "Lallaberry", and one of the best was when she decided to call a good friend of mine with that last name Bang, "Bing Bang Bong". BUT the best, the very best was when she got stuck calling a few of my friends by their character names when she would come see my performances. My dear friend Jill played a character named "Pussy A Dangle" in this zombie rock musical we did and my mother would scream "PUSSY!!!" every time she saw her no matter where we were.
Oh then there were her ways of pronouncing words....
For some reason she added an "H" to the word adios so it became "HA-dios" but then dropped the "H" from words like human and humid so they were "U-man" and "U-mid". My all time favorite was that she always called bleachers, like at a football game, "Bleaches". So we would go watch Lindsay's softball games and sit on the "Bleaches".
She would get just stuck on these sayings and nick names and say them all the time, like a word or saying of the month. Mom decided once that some food she was eating was "sharp". I mean you can use that word to describe a stylish outfit, or a knife, but I don't know if I would call a crab cake sharp. My Mom really had a way with words. Everything for the next month was sharp. A nice smelling perfume, a trip to the grocery store could be sharp, and fact that there wasn't any traffic could be sharp....sharp was anything and everything that was good. The recipe I am about to share with you was definitely described as sharp when she shared it with me and I sure hope you all think its SHARP!

Honestly all kidding aside this is the recipe for the best pork chops I have ever eaten! If you follow this recipe you will get the tastiest most tender pork chop ever and that is not easy to do with a pork chop.
I usually make these chops with some mashed sweet potatoes and maybe some fresh green beans on the side. Tonight we are doing the sweet potatoes but I am also doing some grilled shrimp and mushroom sauteed in red wine because these mushrooms are on their last leg so I have to make them tonight. hehe.
This is the recipe my mom gave me from her People mag by Chef Love at Fort Worth's Lonesome Dove Restaurant.

Seared Pork Chops
4 pork chops, either boneless or bone-in
1 gallon warm water
1/4 cup chili flakes (I use chili powder because I don't know where to get flakes)
1/2 cup salt
6 smashed garlic coves
1/4 olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl mix water, chili powder, salt, and garlic. Add pork chops and let sit for an hour in the fridge. I have actually let them sit over night before and they were even more amazing. So I am a fan of letting them sit several hours.
Remove chops of from mixture and pat dry.
In a heavy cast iron pan, heat oil. Season chops with salt and pepper. Place chops in pan and cook 3-4 mins per side. Remove from pan and let rest 2mins before serving.
I actually will just throw the chops on the grill and they are still outstanding. They are good in the pan or grilled and really good topped with a little......bacon.

Wienies and Beanies...

I just made the most random meal of my life! Nick was working late and yet again we needed to go to the grocery store. We seriously have very little food in the house to make a decent meal. I was tempted to just bake a plate of tatar tots and puts some franks red hot on them and call that dinner....and that is a pretty darn yum-may dinner but i am trying to lose this baby weight. I guess I can't just eat plates of tots and franks and red wine like I used to when I was 22. And yes that meal and a few glasses of red wine were a weekly staple for my roommate Liz and I. That, mac n cheese, couscous, and salmon (all with franks on it) was pretty much all we ate some weeks. Liz would just dump a can of chickpeas in a bowl and douse them with Italian dressing and lots of crushed black pepper and that was her dinner about 3 times a week. We had to make quick cheap dinners cause we were on a seriously slim budget, needed to save money for the wine (hello!), and had a date to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer every night until we watched the entire series start to finish. That was serious business. My evenings are very different now...

SO Nick and I are trying to save money now that we have a little one so I made this random meal in an attempt to avoid ordering take out. Like I said, we had very little to work with. I found a can of organic rice and beans, frozen peas, and cocktail wienies and thought; "OK...i guess". So I boil the peas just like normal but I heat up the rice and beans and add pieces of chopped up cocktail wienies. I also added a little season salt and butter because that rice and beans just needed a little flavor. Once everything was done, I just didn't feel like this dinner was complete. I open the fridge and find a few farm fresh eggs and instantly wish I just made breakfast for dinner but at this point it was too late for that. However, I could still use the eggs maybe.
So I thought eggs and sausage....there are little pork sausages in the rice and beans...and in England they eat beans with breakfast..and its the London Olympics right now... soooo sure why not. So I fried two eggs over easy and decided to top the beans and rice with a beautiful fried egg.

I plated the meal and just put the peas alone with some sea salt and a little butter, placed a nice spoon full of the rice, beanies, and wienies on the plate and topped it with the fried egg. Lastly I had a small tomato ripe from my garden. It was a really weird random meal but it actually tasted really good!!! When it was finished I felt like I was on an episode of chopped and I was actually really proud of what I put together.
Don't be afraid to get creative, try new things, and use items you never thought would work well together...you might just come up with your new favorite meal. Have fun in the kitchen and when in doubt add cheese and bacon and apparently egg!

Same Chicken and Green Beans a different way

This past Monday things were pretty hectic at home. I needed to get my car inspected, we were coming off a jammed packed weekend, Nick was working late, and I had Lily to be put to bed. I just don't have a lot of time to put together any complicated dinners so I have to be creative with flavors and use simple ingredients. I like to do 30 minutes or less style cooking most of the time so you will get a lot of those types of recipes from me.
I had some more green beans left from last week I could cook and some chicken breast thawed out but I didn't want to do the same thing that I just did with chicken and green beans (See my earlier post about Lemon Pepper Garlic and White Wine Grilled Chicken and Green Beans with Olive Oil and Feta). This time I whipped up my Asian style marinade and did some Asian inspired green beans with red pepper and chow mein noodles. I hadn't even planned on doing this for dinner but I did a quick inventory of my kitchen in my head and this is what I came up with.
I just love this Asian style marinade. I came up with it for chicken wings but it works on chicken breast, pork, and veggies! I learned some sauces and spices that go into Thai and Asian cuisine from watching food network and some south beach recipes actually. I am a huge fan of the south beach diet cook books. Even if you are not strictly following the diet, you can always add one of those recipes into your everyday diet to eat healthy and fresh meals.
This meal is quick and healthy and really delicious...and of course you can add bacon to the green beans if you want.


Asian Style Marinade 

Tonight I thawed 3 organic chicken breasts. Make sure to let them sit in the marinade for at least 15 mins but they taste even better if you can wait an hour or more.

1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 T sesame oil
1 T fish sauce (optional but I really like it)
1/4 cup or more honey
1 t basil (fresh basil is even better)
1 T garlic (fresh or minced in a jar is best)
1 t ginger

mix together with a whisk to get the honey really well mixed in.
set aside 1/4 cup or more of the mixture to use later on veggie is you wish.
 Dunk chicken or pork in and let sit at least 15 mins.
Start up grill, oven, or pan and start cookin! baste meat with sauce 1 more time on both sides once you start cooking.


While the chicken is cooking you can cook up some tasty veggies-

Asian Style Green Beans and Red Pepper

Take a couple portions of green beans and sit them in your steamer.
Julienne half of a large red pepper.
Steam veggies.
Once the veggies are done, toss in the marinade you set aside.
Add some sesame seeds, sliced almonds, and chow mein noodles and enjoy!