Dream Dinners!

Have you ever done Dream Dinners before? Dream Dinners is a place where you go and pick out what meals you'd like for the next month or so, assemble it there, and then take it home and freeze them and pull out whenever you want a quick meal. It's kind of fun because they have everything laid out for you and it makes the prep really easy. Jonathan and I did it once and it was kind

of like a date because it's fun to put everything together. It's more expensive than getting all the ingredients yourself but it's cheaper than going out so it's worth it for a lot of people. After Jonathan and I did it once, I really liked the food but I didn't think it was worth it for us to keep going since we love to cook and always have our kitchen pretty well stocked. I did really like not have to spend forever every night getting everything ready for each meal. So I thought, why not do it myself? I mentioned it to Colleen too and as always she was super pumped to join me! We tried it for the first time over the summer and it was a huge success. I made like 9-10 entrees in one afternoon. It was the best! Every time we needed dinner I just popped one in the oven for 30 minutes and dinner was done. The only problem was that I made the perfect amount for dinner and then we never had leftovers to take for lunch.

Well, we decided to do it again yesterday! This time around I decided to make larger portion things so we'd have plenty of leftovers for other meals. First up was chili! I made two batches chili: one with ground beef and the other with ground chicken which I'd never worked with before. I froze the first one and the one with chicken is cooking in our crockpot right now!



The recipe involved a lot of chopping, but look how pretty!

Doesn't look like much now but soon it will be delicious chili!



Colleen made a tortilla soup. I definitely want to try that next time!

I also made a pork marinade, combined that with some pork chops, and froze them for another day. I didn't take any pictures though.

Finally, Colleen had a great recipe for protein balls made with peanut butter, quinoa, agave, banana, dates, and other great stuff. Plus they were fun to make.



Ready to go in the freezer for an easy snack!

Even if it was a little messy....

And now I have homemade chili cooking in my crockpot as we speak. I can't wait to get home and be greeted with the wonderful smell of it cooking!


It looks so good! And pretty!

I already want to make more recipes! I am really really REALLY bad at planning ahead when it comes to cooking. I'm usually too lazy to plan and get all the ingredients ahead of time to make a specific meal. I usually just look at what I have on hand and figure out what I can make with it. Not that that's a bad thing, it's actually pretty fun most of the time, but sometimes that means I don't try new things as often. Plus, I have a bad habit about going out to eat when I don't know what to make for dinneror when I'm feeling lazy. Making my own freezer meals totally saves me with this! Anyone up for a dream dinners party? Any great recipes or ideas for the next one??

-Chelsey

Citrus and Running

You may be confused about the title of this post but those were the two highlights of my day! We've been enjoying a lot of great grapefruit juice lately. My parents have two grapefruit trees in their backyard that my grandfather gave us. About 15 years ago, my grandfather took the seeds from his morning grapefruit, grafted them (whatever that means), grew them until they were about 2 feet tall, and then drove them down from Iowa to Texas so that we could grow them in our backyard. They're beautiful trees and we never expected them to grow fruit. A few years ago my parents walked outside in their backyard and grapefruit were growing! I'm was really shocked and impressed! Who would have thought that seeds from a store bought grapefruit would turn into beautiful fruit producing trees?? The first year they got about 25 lbs per tree and since then they've gotten about 125 lbs per tree each year. That means 250 lbs of grapefruit per year! Fun fact of the day: did you know that grapefruit grow in bunches like grapes? That's why they're called "grape" fruit. I'm sure you're not surprised that everytime we visit my parents we get at least 8 grapefruit haha. We've been loving it and I've been using the juicer that we got for our wedding nonstop (thanks Jordan and Amber!) Just check out how much juice we get from one grapefruit:

And the juice is so delicious!

We were also lucky enough to get to visit some friends of ours before Christmas who have a lemon tree. They gave us a ton of lemons and they were huge: the size of oranges! I was so excited because we knew that we wanted to try making lemonade. We both like trying new foods. It came out delicious!

Juicing is so easy to do and I feel better drinking it since so it's so much healthier than buying store bought juice. It's so hard finding store bought juice that isn't made with hfcs or added sugar. I can't wait for our own house so we can plant fruit trees and a little garden in the backyard!

On to the running part of the post! If you read our blog on our wedding website you know that I really got into running the past three years and ran my first half marathon last year. Well I'm planning on running another one this year in March! I have to be honest with you. Running this year has been tough for me. I always have to take a break from running over the summer because it's just too hot living in Texas. Once the fall starts I usually get right in the swing of things and start running as much as possible. Well this year I haven't really been able to run much at all. Most of fall I felt pretty awful because the weather kept swinging back and forth and constantly messed with my sinuses. I was so frustrated because I really wanted to run but never felt great when I tried to run. I just couldn't get into a groove and couldn't run very far before having to walk. It made me so nervous because I started doubting whether or not I could even do this half marathon. Last weekend I was super determined to go out and have a great run and then that morning I took a fall down the stairs, hurt my foot, and spent most of the day on the couch icing my foot. I was convinced that the universe was working against me and was determined to keep me from running! (I'm fine by the way! I was able to walk again by that evening and took it slow the rest of the week.) Well today had one of those runs where I just felt great! I really enjoyed running and wanted to just keep going and going. It just made me realize that running is tough! Sometimes we have good runs and sometimes running sucks and that's ok! I should just be proud of getting off my butt and working out. My favorite motivational quote is:

And it's true! Did you know that you burn more calories when you walk/run instead of running nonstop? When you run you're body gets very efficient at running and you burn less calories than doing intervals of running and walking. So there's no need to feel embarrassed when runners pass you while you're walking!

Here's some more of my favorite running quotes:

I tell myself this after the crappy runs!

Hahahaha makes me laugh!

So if any of you think that running just doesn't work for you and you've never been able to enjoy running like other people do, please stay with it! When I first started running, it took me about 3 months before I started really loving it. Now again after months of struggling with running, I'm starting to love each run more and more! It takes a lot of determination and stubbornness sometimes but it'll pay off in the end.

Do you have any great running quotes that keep you motivated?? I'm always looking for more ways to stay motivated!

-Chelsey

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I have to admit, I was kind of sad for 2012 to end. 2012 was a really amazing year. We got engaged, got married, moved into a house together, and as you've read we've gotten to see and do a lot of fun things since then. Then again, the fun doesn't stop in 2012 and 13 has kind of been a lucky number for us. We started dating on Friday the 13th when Jonathan and Ana came up to Austin to surprise me. People think we're crazy when we tell them that, but for us it turned into a good luck thing and we get excited when another Friday the 13th is coming up. That's why we wanted to get married on April 14th: it was 5 and a half years since we'd started dating. Plus it was a bonus that our rehearsal dinner was on a Friday the 13th. So bring it on 2013! I'm sure it will be another amazing year!

For most people, New Years isn't a big holiday. At least, for me it wasn't before I started dating Jonathan. I quickly learned in our first year of dating that for Venezuelans, really all Latin Americans, New Years is a big celebration. Every year it is a very elegant event and it is very important to ring in the new year with your family. This was quite a big surprise to me because I had never thought of New Years as very important in the past. It took me awhile to get used to it but now I look forward to the big dinner celebration every year. This year we wanted to host New Years at our house. We love to have people over and cook for our friends and family so we were really excited to host our first holiday dinner. Both of our families came so it was great to ring in the new year with everyone.

Jonathan having some yummy cheese. Our homemade Christmas goodies are on the far end of the table too.

Clockwise starting in top left: kale, potatoes and vegetables, pork loin, and sweet potatoes!

Unfortunately those were all the pictures I took of the night. Everything was so delicious so I got a little distracted. We finished dinner with a rocky road pie and champagne to toast the new year. Then we went to a family friend's New Years party where we had more champagne and of course 12 grapes as the clock struck midnight. It's tradition to have 12 grapes at midnight on New Years. It is for good luck in the new year and you have to eat 12, 1 for every month. It's kind of a funny sight to see a big group of people trying to drink their champagne, eat their grapes, and hug and kiss each other all at the same time haha. I assure you, I am the least graceful one out of everyone. Nonetheless, it's a very cute tradition.

I hope you all had a very good New Years! What did you do to celebrate?

- Chelsey

Christmas at the Nassars

We're really excited about spending our first Christmas together in our home. You probably all knew that already b/c I've mentioned it a bajillion times but we're just so excited! When we were deciding what to do for a Christmas tree, we both thought it would be fun to get a real tree. I was especially excited because I'd never had a real tree before. I had so much fun picking it out and taking pictures of them tying it to our car. I felt like we were in a Christmas movie.

Getting ready to take our tree home!

We got it up the stairs and in the stand! I forced Jonathan to be in the picture if you can't tell.

Check out our tree!

My favorite ornament on our tree! It was a gift from my aunt, uncle, and cousins.

That's not our only Christmas tree though. We still have my fake tree from before we were married and our first floor has the perfect nook for it so we decided to put that one up too! While we decided for our big tree to be red and gold, we chose red and green for this tree. It makes our entryway so much prettier when we get home.

It's kind of a puny tree but it works!

To make sure we decorated our whole house, we decided to put up one more tree in our bedroom. That way we have a tree on every floor! It's only about 2 feet tall but I like turning on the lights every morning and evening. The other day Jonathan left the Christmas tree lights on and a radio station playing Christmas music as a surprise for me when I came upstairs. We like to be cute like that :-)

Today we started making all our Christmas goodies and will hopefully finish everything tomorrow! I hope you're enjoying the holiday season and aren't too stressed out. Just remember what's important: Jesus is coming!

Merry Christmas!

-Chelsey

New Orleans Weekend

Ok my goal was to get in this post about our Thanksgiving New Orleans trip before Christmas! It may be only 4 days until Christmas but I made it! We had a great trip. I'd only been to New Orleans once (but it was before I was 21 so I'm not so sure that it counts) and Jonathan had never been! We got a great deal on a hotel in a great location, right on Canal St. at Bourbon St., meaning that we got to stay in the French Quarter but were close to the bus stops so we could also get to the garden district easily. Friday we mostly spent the day roaming around the French Quarter. We went to a burger place for lunch that was recommended to us by a friend and then immediately headed to Cafe du Monde. Yummy!! We each got our own beignets since we definitely wanted 3 each, and I got an iced cafe au lait and Jonathan got a hot cafe au lait. So good! I'm craving them now... So after that, we walked along the water and walked to the River Walk. It's a cute little mall along the river and they have outdoor areas that were pretty to sit and enjoy the view. The rest of the afternoon we spent going in almost every art gallery we saw. We saw such amazing pieces! Then, we decided to go have dinner early because we wanted to go to Acme Oyster House. We tried going there for lunch and they had a huge line. Apparently they just always have a huge line because they're so popular. We made sure to go back early for dinner before the line got too long. We only had to wait about 30 minutes before getting a table. They are known for their grilled oysters and they were delicious!!! It was my first time to have oysters that I actually liked. I've tried raw oysters and oyster stew and gave them both a chance but they're just not for me. However, I could eat the grilled oysters at Acme all day. I kind of wanted to haha. Jonathan said that they're raw oysters were great too if you were wondering. Those were just the appetizers...for our entrees I decided to get my cajun fill and got etoufee and Jonathan got soft shell crab. Definitely hit the spot!

The heart of the French Quarter: Jackson Square! The historic St. Louis Cathedral is in the middle.

Andrew Jackson statue in the middle of Jackson square.

Cafe Du Monde!

 

It's always super crowded. You have to literally run to your table before it's taken haha.



My deliciousness!



Jonathan's beignet art haha.

The river!



The aquarium is also along the river and they have an area with birds that's visible from outside!

 

A nice area with a fountain in the River Walk.

 



Oysters! Yummm!

After dinner it was still kind of early since we'd eaten so early but we decided to head to Bourbon St. to see if we could find some good bars. We wanted to find some good jazz and have a hurricane to check both off of our New Orleans bucket list. We first went to Pat O'Brien's because everyone told us we had to go there. They didn't have jazz but they did have a piano bar so we sat and enjoyed the music while I had a hurricane and Jonathan had a mint julep. The drinks were great and the music was fun! They took requests so everyone was singing along and a lot of people got up and danced. Pat O'Brien's also had a traditional bar area and an outdoor patio with a water fountain/fire pit. That's right, water fountain and a fire pit in one. That's a first for me anyways. We then decided to see what else was happening and if we could find some jazz. Bourbon St. was considerably busier but we survived. It's not hard to find jazz in New Orleans so we popped into a few different bars. It was nice to stop and listen to music for awhile and then stroll down the street to the next place. After awhile we started to get a hankering for some coffee so we stopped at PJ's which is a New Orlean's original. It was pretty good and it was really nice to get out of the Bourbon St. craziness for a little bit. After that we stopped at the Musical Legends Park. It's a small outdoor area off of Bourbon St. that usually has live jazz music. There's nothing better than sipping on coffee outside while listening to some good music! We probably didn't have the typical experience that most people have on Bourbon St. but we definitely had fun.


My hurricane from Pat O'Brien's!



The piano bar!



Jonathan's hot mocha and my iced mocha from PJ's!

The entertainment at Musical Legends Park!

Saturday we decided to take the bus through the Garden District and then walk down Magazine St. and check out all the shops. If you don't know, the Garden District is known for their beautiful houses. We were definitely wowed. I was picking out different houses for us to live in haha. It's a really fun experience because you get to ride a trolley through the area. At the end of the trolley route we stopped and went to eat at Cooter Brown's, another suggestion from friends. They are known for their oysters too. Jonathan got raw oysters and I got fried oysters. Both of ours were really amazing. We also both tried a local beer which is something we always like to do when visiting somewhere new. They were showing a college football game and even though the teams were nowhere near Louisiana, everyone was really into the game. Apparently Louisianians really love football no matter what team is playing. After that we took the trolley down toward the main area on Magazine St. and shopped shopped shopped. We even found some painted vases for our house.

We're on the trolley!



Look at how pretty! I was taking notes for our future house!

Raw oysters for Jonathan and fried for me!

We headed back to the French Quarter after a few hours of shopping to go to mass at the Cathedral. The Cathedral is beautiful. It was really cool to not only go and see it but to also celebrate mass there. That night we went out for a nicer meal at a place called La Petite Grocery. Our friend, Robby, used to be a chef there. We loved the appetizers and desserts the best. I mean, who doesn't? Our favorite appetizer were the crab beignets. Sounds weird but they were great! It was a really nice meal and a great end to our trip.

Inside the Cathedral



Everything was so beautiful.

 

St. Joan of Arc, my patron saint.

Sunday morning was pretty laid back since we wanted to leave to get back to Houston after breakfast. We decided to go back to the Musical Legends Park because in the park was a place called Cafe Beignet. While we were listening to music there Friday night we noticed that there was a sign saying that it was on the Food Network show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." I was shocked and didn't really believe it because everyone always raves about Cafe du Monde. We looked it up and sure enough Alton Brown said that it was the best thing he'd ever eaten. Jonathan said that we had to try it so we went back there Sunday morning. I was really glad we did because we got to listen to more jazz and sit outside! We both got beignets and mochas (made with chicory coffee). It was good and I really liked the coffee with the beignets, but I have to say, the beignets weren't as good as Cafe du Monde. They were crispier at Cafe Beignet, but Cafe du Monde's beignets just melt in your mouth. So just in case you were going and weren't sure where to go, now you know (and sorry Alton Brown if you read this...but if you do I love your show!)


Cafe Beignet still must have been pretty good if I didn't remember to take a picture before almost eating it all!



The traffic wasn't fun on our way back to Houston but at least we had nice scenery!



Lots of trees!


So we had a fun trip! We were glad to be able to go on a long weekend to make it worth the 6 hour trip. We got back to Houston around 6 and then immediately headed to our friend Josh's house to celebrate his birthday. He grilled his amazing burgers for us and we made a bonfire and smores! We had the best time but after a few hours I definitely was ready for bed! It was full weekend. We never have a problem finding something to do haha.

Until next time!
-Chelsey

A Bridal Shower Fit for a Princess

So I'm sorry that I'm taking forever to post about our New Orleans trip! Of course the holidays sneak up on us and make everything so busy. It has been especially busy for me since I've been busy planning a bridal shower that I threw on Saturday at our house. So although I'm going out of order, I decided to do a post on this weekend since I still need to upload the New Orleans pictures to my computer. Who cares about being chronological anyways?

The shower that I threw was for Katie who is a friend of ours from Jonathan's work. Katie started at BG shortly after Jonathan did and they shared a cubicle. Katie used to tease Jonathan that he was taking forever to propose and made a bet that her and her fiance Todd would get married before us. Sorry Katie! They're not very far behind us though because they're getting married in March. We're super excited to go to their wedding in Austin! Katie asked if she could hold her bridal shower at our house and we were thrilled to do it! I also helped with a lot of the planning because unfortunately most of Katie's bridesmaids are out of town. Katie chose a Cinderella theme which made it a lot of fun. Take a look at some of the pictures:

Katie's cake and cupcakes for everyone else!

The bride!

Playing games! Lauren (in the champagne dress) was the host and did pretty much everything!



Do you like our fancy shoes and dress?? We were told to dress like princesses!

 

The guest book: everyone signed a shoe and glued it to the poster!



I think the shower was a success! Everyone had a great time and Katie especially loved her shower. Of course now Jonathan's not too happy because our place is covered in glitter but he should have known what he was getting into when he offered our place for the shower.

Is everyone ready for Christmas?? It's only a week away! How did that happen? I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my new family, although I'll of course be missing my family in Iowa! Marriage brings new changes and new traditions though! Plus, there's always skype...

If I don't post before Christmas, Merry Christmas! Happy (belated) Hannukah! Happy Holidays!

-Chelsey