Things are Looking Brighter :)

This week promises to be busy, but hopefully not as stressful as the past 2 have been.

About my pharm test, I got an A!! Yay, I'm feeling much better about that class and my final grade now. I ended up typing 40 pages of drug sheets that list the uses, side effects, and other details of each drug that we learned about. I also studied the whole week prior to the exam so, I'm glad the hard work paid off.

I ended up taking my nephew Levi and another little girl I babysit named Sydney to the fair on Sat. They're the same age and get along really well. The cutest part was when I picked up Sydney she had put on about three layers of pink lip gloss, getting all dressed up for Levi. But what was really funny was that Levi wore some of his daddy's cologne too. Is that not so cute? It cracks me up that they're only 4 but they try to get all prettied up for one another.

The circus was fun, but it was sooo long. It lasted 3 hours and both kids were ready to hit the road before it was over. They had some tigers (which I'd never seen before at the circus), poodles, elephants, bears, and of course the acrobatic people.
Levi really like the moto-cross guys that drove their bikes inside this huge steel cage that was shaped like a ball. It was fun and the kids acted great which is always nice.

I got my package mailed today for the Favorite Things Swap. I wrapped everything up in polka-dot tissue paper. I wish I would have taken a sneak-peek pic to show everyone. I hope Mrs.FatFace likes all the goodies I sent her.

March 10th is the Spring Fling over at The Secret's in the Sauce blog. You can go to this post to get the details but it should be a ton of fun. Good thing I'm at work that day, I've got some computer time to enter the hourly giveaways! I'm trying to figure out what I'll be giving away on my blog that day.

I tried out a dish last night for dinner called Honey Curry Chicken. My mom used to make it all the time when I was a kid and I loved it.
It turned out great, the chicken was super moist and the sauce was delicious.
I just kindof added the indredients for the sauce until I got it to taste how I liked it, so feel free to experiment with the measurements.

Honey Curry Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, fat trimmed off
2 15 oz cans small new potatoes, drained
1 stick butter
1/2 cup honey
1 Tbs curry powder
1 tsp dried ground mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 Tbs real mustard
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
salt to taste


Preheat oven to 375 degree F.
Place trimmed chicken in baking dish and cut any potatoes that are large in half. Arrange the potatoes around and on top of the chicken.
Place butter in measuring cup and microwave until melted. Pour in the honey, the mustard and spices and whisk to combine. Add salt to taste.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and potatoes. Use a small spoon to move the chicken and potatoes around so that it's completely coated with the sauce.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees F. I just put my thermometer probe in the thickest part of the breast and waited for the alarm to go off when it reached 170. I'd guess that it took about 35-45 minutes.
This was great served with buttered bread and steamed veggies. We had the Green Giant Healthy Vision medley which is carrots, zuchini, and green beans. They only take a couple of minutes in the microwave and the serving size is perfect for two.



Have a happy Monday everyone!

-kcc

Easy Peasy Banana Cake

Well my pharm test wasn't too painless, I knew most of it but there was still plenty that I guessed on. Some of these drug names are like a foreign language, there's just no rhyme or reason to memorize them. I know I got the Statin drugs which are used for high cholesterol correct though, because they all end in "statin"! I love the names that make sense, but they're few and far between. It's so nice to just be able to relax tonight, I'll probably even get to watch some Grey's, woohoo!

On Saturday, I'm taking my 4 yo nephew Levi to the circus. They're advertising all kinds of neat stuff including tigers, which I've never seen at the circus before. I'm such a kid inside! I haven't gotten to spend much time with him lately so it will be great to take him to do something special.

I was over at my sister's house a few weeks ago and playing with Levi in his room. Then he started telling me that he asks his momma "evwy single daaaayy" if he can come over to see my parents and I. He crawled up in my lap and hugged me and laid his head on my shoulder for about 5 minutes. I, of course, started crying like a baby. I've missed him so much and I really want to always be an important part of his life. I figured, him a being the busy 4 year old that he is, he wouldn't actually miss me that much so I was surprised that he was so emotional too.
It will be awesome to have some just me-and-him time Saturday and he's super excited about going to the circus.

Now, about the Banana Cake recipe I promised. It never fails that every time I buy a bunch of bananas at the store, we end up with one or two that have over-ripened and are brown and spotted. Since those bananas are sweeter, they're perfect for this recipe. I've been making this cake for about 10 years now (I learned how to make it in my 6th grade home-ec class) and it's always yummy and moist. Just be sure to use ones that are spotty, I think the purely black bananas are too far gone.

Easy Banana Cake
Courtesy of Mrs. Norma Wells, my home-ec teacher.

* 2 ripe bananas
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 4 Tbsp milk
* 1 cup flour
* 1 tsp. baking powder
* 1/2 tsp. baking soda
* 1 Tbsp vanilla
* Cinnamon sugar for topping

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x9 pan
2. Mash the bananas with the sugar in a medium bowl
3. In a separate small bowl, beat the egg with the milk
4. Add the egg mixture to the banana mixture and stir well
5. In a separate medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and the baking soda
6. Gradually add the flour mixture to the bananas, stir well to combine
7. Stir in the vanilla and pour the batter into the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar
8. Bake 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

*It usually takes longer than the 30 minutes in my oven, just be sure to check it with a toothpick.

Hope you like it. The cinnamon sugar creates a crispy top and the cake is so moist.

-kcc

A delicious way to add an inch or two to your waist!

Today I had my dreaded Pharmacology exam and I'm pretty sure I bombed it. I'm not too worried about it because my professor will let us drop one exam, and judging by the fact that I was clueless for about 90% of the test, I'm predicting this will be the one to drop. There were probably 30 different drugs on this test so I'm going to have to spend ALOT more time studying for this class and filling out drug sheets with all the details on every single medication.

So...sadly, blogger will be getting less of my time these days. I'm sad that I've had to chisel away at my list of blogs I follow and cut it down to the only the ones that I really enjoy reading because I just don't have the time to catch up on all of them everyday.

Okay, I'm one of those people who has a hard time staying committed to a goal. I've decided to get in shape and lose some weight, all the while saying "and I mean it this time", oh about 15 times in the past six months. I've got a Wii Fit sitting in my living room that I haven't been on in 17 days and a Pilates DVD in my room that's only collecting dust. So now, I'm setting a goal to start running. I want to be running several miles, maybe 3 or 4 at least,a day by the end of the summer. I don't really care about losing weight, I just want to be fit and able to walk up the 3 flights of stairs at the college library without getting winded. So, any advice on how to get into a good routine while avoiding injury? I'd love any tips I can get.

Now, after revealing my goals to get in shape, I'm going to share a sinfully caloric,yet equally delicious,recipe for the best brownies ever. I don't remember where I got the recipe, I'm thinking on the Hershey's website. Anyway, a couple of batches of these beauties can definitely do some damage to a girl's waistline, so beware!

I don't have any pics of the one's I've made, but these look equally delicious!


Deep Dish Brownies

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.

2. Combine butter, sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add eggs; beat will with a spoon or a spatula. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in separate bowl; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

3. Bake 40-45 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars, makes about 16 brownies.

Yumm!!!