Christmas 2013 Part 1

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and were able to spend lots of time with family! My Christmas was fabulous, and we aren’t even done celebrating yet! Instead of making one super long post about our Christmas celebration, I thought I would break it up. This part will be about me and Ryan’s Christmas together that we did on the 23rd (part 1), part 2 will be a recap of celebrating with my side of the family, and part 3 will be a recap of celebrating with Ryan’s side of the family. We are heading out this afternoon when Ryan gets off to go to his parents’ house and spend the weekend there celebrating. I love how long our Christmas celebrations last!

Ryan and I celebrated Monday night, on the 23rd, as the last date of the 12 dates of Christmas and it was so wonderful! I know some of you may not understand why we chose to celebrate on a day other than Christmas or Christmas Eve, but we knew we would be with our family both of these days, and we wanted a day to celebrate just us. It was really so nice, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We were able to focus on each other completely, and our celebration was much more intimate and relaxed.

Confession: This picture was actually taken on Christmas Eve at my parents’ house. When Ryan and I celebrated on the 23rd I didn’t exactly get ready (aka, I didn’t do my hair and I was wearing sweats and a t-shirt), so I decided to share a picture where we looked a little more presentable. 🙂

Before we ate we looked through our stockings to see what Santa brought us. You see, Santa is a very smart man and obviously knew Ryan and I were celebrating two days early, so when Ryan was at work he sneaked in and filled up our stockings with goodies! He must have done this when I was at the grocery store…

As you can see, Ryan’s stocking is overflowing so Santa couldn’t fit his cheetos in his stocking, so he just set it on top. Santa is a problem solver.

Excuse my foot, but here is some of what was in Ryan’s stocking. He got some much needed dress socks, cheetos, a candle, and a small football that isn’t in the picture.

I got Christmas ornaments, two KIND bars, a candle (that isn’t in the picture), and a set for doing my nails. Maybe this will help me actually paint my nails… Oh, and there is the football that wasn’t in the picture with Ryan’s stocking!

After we went through stockings we read the Christmas story in the bible, and then enjoyed a candlelit dinner.

Sidenote: I LOVE having the Spode Christmas plates that I got as a graduation gift!

For dinner, we had the most romantic food possible: homemade pizza on sweet potato crust.

Can you guess whose half has the veggies and whose half does not? 😉

We did the same thing as we did for our sweet potato protein packed pizza, except we didn’t add chicken this time.

After dinner we exchanged gifts.

We moved the gifts from under the tree to under our “fireplace”. 😉

I got Ryan an AV cord, which apparently goes from his playstation to our television, so that whenever we watch shows from Netflix it will show up clearer than before. I also got him some of these prana zion pants that are for climbing, hiking, and camping, but they didn’t get here in time so I had to print off the receipt and I wrapped that for him. He was still super excited to know they would be coming soon! Finally, his favorite gift I got him was an ipad! He was so surprised when he opened this; the look on his face was priceless! I love giving people gifts that they love and are totally surprised about! It has been hard to get him away from his ipad ever since he opened it. 😉 I was really only able to get this because I got a really good deal on it. One of my parents’ neighbors didn’t want it anymore, so he sold it to me for a really affordable price. Score!

Ryan did awesome and once again proved he knows me better than I know myself.

He gave me a Camelbak backpack for running/biking/hiking, the first book of the Divergent series, the recipe book Peas and Thank you, pro compression socks, the movies “Elf” and “The Hobbit, two pairs of fleece lined leggings, and gum! All of these are perfect for me, and I am so thankful for everything. Yes, I know, he spoils me!

I can’t wait to go out for a long run with this!

The presents were nice, but they definitely weren’t what made this night so special. Our first married Christmas together was more perfect than I could have imagined, and it’s just because we were together. We ended the night playing with our new presents and just talking. Perfect date night with my husband.

Oh, and some of you have mentioned you want to do the 12 dates of Christmas next year. If you do, I want to let you know something Ryan and I decided to start doing. On day 4 of the 12 dates we were supposed to write each other a hand written note. We decided we are going to do this every year, and I’m going to get a notebook that we can keep all of our letters in every year. Since this year is coming to an end we naturally wrote about the past year, and we thought years later it would be fun to look back and read about what happened that year and what we wrote each other. We also wrote each other a handwritten note on our wedding day, and this will be the first letter I put in our notebook, followed by the letters we wrote each other this Christmas. This was Ryan’s brilliant idea, and I love it! Even if you have already been married several years, I think this would still be a fun tradition to start! I love to look back on things from the past!

Now, I need to go pack for this weekend at my in-law’s, try to fit in a workout, get my tires aired up, and maybe try to hit up a few stores for clearance Christmas items! I have a lot to do before we leave! I hope you all have a great day, and keep enjoying that family time! Don’t lose the Christmas spirit yet! 🙂

Questions:

1. Do you and your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend like to celebrate Christmas by yourselves or with other people?

2. Tell me about your Christmas yesterday! 

3. Do you Christmas celebrations last a long time like mine? 

4. Favorite thing you ate yesterday? Mine was sausage gravy and cinnamon rolls. 🙂

Sweet Potato Protein Packed Pizza

After a more serious post yesterday, let’s have a more fun,yummy post today, shall we? 🙂

We love homemade pizza in our house!! Pizza is always good, but I love when we make it homemade because I know what ingredients are going into my body, and you don’t have to deal with all of the nasty grease. For Ryan and I, homemade pizza makes for a perfect at home date night. This particular has been a pizza several times now, so I thought I would share the deliciousness. 🙂

I make the sweet potato crust with this recipe from Tina. I have actually never made the recipe with almond flour because it is a little pricey, and I haven’t brought myself to pay the money to buy it yet. So instead I have been using whole wheat flour, but I definitely want to get some almond flour to make it gluten free.

After the crust is done, I use half a jar of pizza sauce and spread it out over the crust. Then I put however much mozzarella cheese we want on top of the sauce. (Sorry, I don’t have an exact measurement, but this is a personal choice, use however much cheese you would like.)

Next, add on the meat! To make it protein packed, we used 1 pound of ground turkey and then about 1/2 cup of shredded chicken. Next, add on some chopped pineapple. (The sweet potato makes a sweeter crust, so we decided that the pineapple really makes this pizza taste even better!)

Finally, if you want a REALLY TASTY PIZZA, add on some veggies! I added chopped tomatoes, onions, bell pepper, and sliced mushrooms. The pizza above only has veggies on half of it because Ryan hasn’t yet learned that veggies make pizzas oh so much better. Then if you want put some more shredded cheese on top. 🙂

Lastly, let it bake for about 7-9 more minutes in the oven, and you are done! Totally protein packed and delicious!

Ingredients:

• Sweet potato crust recipe here
• 1/2 jar of pizza sauce
• Shredded mozzarella cheese (however much you would like, I would suggest 1-2 cups)
• 1 lb ground turkey
• approximately 1/2 cup of shredded chicken
• fresh chopped pineapple (however much you would like for your pizza)
• whatever veggies you want to put on top!
• Salt and pepper for seasoning

1. First preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and use this recipe for the crust.

2. While the crust is cooking ground your turkey meat in a skillet and drain off any excess fat. Season with salt and pepper.

3. When crust is done spread the pizza sauce over the crust and add cheese.

4. Top with meat (ground turkey and chicken) and spread out evenly over the pizza.

5. Add chopped pineapple over the whole pizza.

6. Add whatever veggies you would like and more cheese if you want.

7. Bake for approximately 7-9 minutes in the oven.

8. Take out, let cool, and then eat and enjoy!

I had one piece with a spinach salad, and it hit the spot! Pizza and salad=a great meal!

Since this pizza is packed with so much protein, it seriously fills you up! I had this one piece and went back for maybe 1/4 to 1/2 of another piece and I was stuffed! The first time I made this pizza I ate two pieces since I can normally eat two pieces of pizza pretty easily. But after I ate it I was uncomfortably full. Just a little heads up. 🙂 Oh, and it is great for leftovers, so you will want some the next day.

Questions:

1. Do you ever make your own pizza crust? Any good pizza crust recipes I should try?

2. Veggies on your pizza, yes or no?

3. Favorite topping for your pizza?

4. Tell me something about your day yesterday, or something you are looking forward to today.