The "Off" Times

As you may have noticed, I took a week "off"--from writing this blog, anyway. I find myself knee-deep in time-consuming activities. With two weddings on the docket for this year (neither of them mine, I assure you), I've had my weekends committed to dress-shopping with the respective brides, one of them being my younger sister, Emily. Despite my rousing speeches for money-saving options like thrift stores, we began in wedding boutiques. Not that you'll never find anything in these places, but I really don't recommend starting there. For one, if you're having a wedding in a short amount of time (like my sister, courtesy of her fiance's Air Force career), they likely won't be able to get your dress in time. They've got to order everything...which I find annoying. And you get no discount for buying off the rack in some places. Next, there's the pressure. I have watched way too many episodes of "Say Yes to the Dress" and consequently feel terrible about wasting a consultant's time if I'm not going to buy.

Yes, I do like this dress...but I think I'd like to try on some I know I won't like just to make sure. Shouldn't take more than three hours. 

Yeah...so anyway, after three straight weekends and a dress order cancellation, we finally found a winner (for one bride, anyway). It is absolutely gorgeous, fits her perfectly, and is more unique than anything we've seen. She looks a bit like Belle from Beauty and the Beast in it. In any case, rather than the $800 somewhat impersonal ball gown we cancelled for her, we found this fantastic one for only $168. It's the same style, but better. And it's never been worn. We went to this awesome consignment shop called Wear Else on Northshore Drive in Knoxville. They get 'new' wedding gowns from bridal shops that can't/won't sell last year's merchandise and discount the crap out of them. So awesome!

So hopefully that's kind of over, but not. What I'm saying is, I haven't been idle. I don't have time for idleness. I have been kicking some booty at work, though. I will be posting my mini-dissertation on insurance soon enough. You'd be amazed at how many things people don't know that they REALLY REALLY need to know. You may even be one of those people. I know I was prior to my licensing training. There just really aren't a lot of insurance agents with integrity who will explain your coverages.

In any case, I have made some awesome recipes lately--like the Cilantro Lime Chicken Enchiladas with Avocado Cream Sauce that I found on Pinterest. As per usual, I added a little somethin-somethin. I would've added more somethin-somethins if I had been thinking straight. The recipe is delicious, but there are some important things to remember: Don't eat it straight out of the oven. At that point, the sauce hasn't really developed and is sort of bland. If I make it again, I will also add tomatoes to the vegetable mixture. I think that was the missing ingredient. I drizzled a bit of Catalina dressing on top of them when they came out of the oven as well.

Tips for making it healthier (which yes, I did use): Use greek yogurt instead of sour cream in the sauce. Use lowfat cheese. Use whole wheat tortillas (I like a brand that also uses flax seed for extra fiber). It really is already fairly healthy--it's got veggies, a lean protein source, and healthy fats in the avocado. Definitely worth making.

Glorious.

I served it with Homemade Refried Beans. I used black beans instead of pinto, because they're healthier (as evidenced by this chart.) They were so delicious. No chemicals, no preservatives, no gross can-shaped slimy mold. I will definitely be making homemade refried beans from here on out. And easy as pie because they're made in the crockpot. Who came up with that saying, anyway? Pie really isn't that easy. Have you ever tried to bake a decent pie?

Isn't that what White Snake was singing about?

So anyway, you could always pair the enchiladas with the other awesome recipe I made: Cumin Lime Chickpeas. With all of the ingredients I added, it ended up being more of a salad. In addition to what the recipe called for, I chopped up two tomatoes and an avocado. I then added a bit of Catalina dressing and tossed it. It was definitely good.

Light, summery goodness.

I actually served these with veggie burgers. I am a carnivore and definitely bought the Light Side burgers by accident. They were frozen and I had a coupon and the "meatless" text was very small. That said, I had never eaten a veggie burger and was surprised how good they tasted. These weren't packed with sodium or chemicals like most veggie burgers are, either. However, when you're wanting a big, juicy, medium rare burger--they just don't cut it. Still, always up for trying new things! I may even get them again some time.

Okay, since the recipes I posted this time have a bit of a Southwestern flair, I recommend watching Nacho Libre. It's clean, it's funny, and it's bizarre. Seriously. Give it a shot.

Also, this is different, but give Proverbs 31 a little read. It's the kind of woman I want to be...except adding in some sass and some kicking ass. Just do it! And in case you were wondering...