Some Pasta Love...and reflection on Aunt Flo...

I like to pride myself on trying super duper hard to eat healthy and stay in shape.  But there are just some things that I can't stay away from and when my friend showed me this recipe she had found on pinterest (thanks a LOT Jenna...) well...I was a lost cause.

I had this link up for a good two, almost three weeks.  Every day I would return to it and look at it and think how amazing it must taste but I was dragging my feet.  It looked complicated and lets face it, its a carb packed dish.

Let me explain.  I love all things pasta and pretty much all things potatoes.  (Oh and bread too).  And this past weekend my mother in law made her famous potatoes and since I didn't take the time to enjoy them at our wedding I felt the need to indulge.  I indulged.  And then I went back for a second helping of indulgence.  And then a third time.  OK, so I wasn't HEAPING it on or anything, I was putting a scoop at a time in a small coffee cup but still... (don't judge you know you have a tasty treat you just can't leave alone).

I have been disgusted with my body lately and absolutely heart broken over the ZERO progress I have made in the attempt to lose 10 pounds by summer.  We've been hitting the gym hard and the first couple weeks I felt a huge change but its time to mix it up.  So I guess its time for some serious dieting.

I am fortunate in this little endeavor because the hubs wants to start dieting as well.  He is a picky eater.  One of the pickiest men I know when it comes to food and he too loves his potatoes and pasta.  So what the heck is a wife striving for domestic excellence suppose to do?

Make amazing mac and cheese...duh...

Chicken, Bacon, Ranch, Mac and Cheese

Here is what you need:

8 ounces of uncooked macaroni

3 slices of bacon

8 ounces of chicken (cubed, or whatever)

1 Tbsp of butter

1 Tbsp of flour

1 cup of milk

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

Shredded Italian blend cheese

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dill

1/2 cup mozzarella

1) cook pasta

2) while pasta is boiling brown bacon til crisp and set aside

3) mutilate the bacon

4) throw the chicken cubes in bacon fat to cook

5) melt butter and sprinkle in flour continually stirring with a whisk

6) whisk in milk and soup

7) poor over macaroni in a casserole dish

8) stir in chicken, bacon, and cheeses

9) bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes

I of course made this in a way that didn't follow the original recipe, but I like to take short cuts where I can find 'em.  I do feel though that this way is much less complicated.  And even though this recipe doesn't exactly scream healthy...you're going to love it, I PROMISE!

 In an unrelated story the hubs and I were at the grocery store yesterday and we strolled down the lady products aisle.  There was a lady standing there debating which cork would suit her body best and I though to myself how absolutely liberated I have been for the past, almost two years now.  Due to BC and an IUD (I have to double up because of some lady issues) I have had only brief, hour long visits from Aunt Flo and even those visits are few and very far between.  Somehow I still manage to feel the side effects from her though.  At least lately.  You know how when someone comes over and even if they linger a short while, you can still smell their perfume after they leave?  Nasty old granny perfume...well that's me and PMS.  Lately I have just been a turbulent sea of emotion and that diet that I have been trying to stick to?  What women adheres to that really when the "red monster" is in town?  I think about how I must seem to the hubs when I am tearing through the house getting irritated at the most ridiculous and inconsequential things.  That man...that man... I shake my head in disbelief at how crazy I must look and how patient he is with me.  *sigh* Oh and not to mention how I completely and totally lost it yesterday when I watched a video of this couple telling the 'rents they were preggo?  Yea, I am just glad the hubs wasn't around for THAT one...

 So to all my bloggy friends out there who are being visited by that oh so unwelcome monthly visitor, my hat goes off to you for keeping your shit together...

In Gods Love,

Kenz